Ambrosia
by hasitsclaws
Summary: Percy Hagne had been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar, she just hadn't known it until the moment she met his dark eyes across the smoky, jittering room. (The myth of Hades and Persephone with a True Bloodesque twist.)
1. A Real Treat

**A/N:** Hey ya'll. Decided to do a little fic in the meantime between my larger ones. I plan on continuing with Blood & Nerve, the Divinity Games sequel, and even And If Not Winter, too, don't worry. School and work have just been kicking my ass, and so in my bit of downtime I just wanted something lighter on plot planning. Thus a Hades and Persephone True Bloodesque idea was formed. I always wanted a Hades-as-a-vampire version of the myth anyways. The story won't be long, just a few chapters. It's not going to completely follow the True Blood plot, nor completely stick to the guidelines of the original myth, but it'll be fun and dark and gory and a good outlet for smut so... Anyways, I hope you enjoy.

Disclaimer: I don't own any rights to Charlaine Harris' material.

* * *

"Doesn't everyone want to feel in the night

the beloved body, compass polestar

to hear the quiet breathing that says

I am alive, that means also

you are alive, because you hear me,

you are here with me. And when one turns,

the other turns-"

a myth of devotion, louise gluck.

* * *

Percy Hagne had been waiting for the vampire for years when he walked into the bar, she just hadn't known it until the moment she met his dark eyes across the smoky, jittering room. She'd always denied herself the thinkin', figured Eleusinian was too small a town for someone so mysterious to walk into.

Vampires had come out of the coffin two years ago, as they'd so humorously put it. Percy had been twenty at the time, had to drop out of college to come home and take care of her mother, Demi, who had gotten sick with breast cancer. She'd been astounded by the news, had always believed in myths and fairytales and was almost giddy at the prospect of something different being out there.

Something different like _her_.

She can read people, see. She likes to label it as a handicap, for all the trouble it causes her.

Most just call her crazy.

It's not like she can read people's minds or anything, not all the time; but she can tell when they're going to die. That's about the only time she can hear their thoughts, when it's getting closer to the end. Or when they've got new life inside 'em, like a soon-to-be momma carrying around a sleepy babe in her tummy.

It's the reason she's never really had a social life- too hard to get close to people when you're always worried they're going to die on you, can _feel_ them dying on you.

So she considered instances like this a real treat.

Apostle's was a small bar, right on the edge of Eleusinian. The most it ever got as far as outsiders were a few frat boys from Olympus, the big city twenty miles away. But this guy was not frat boy- he was a _vampire_. Apostle's first.

"Can you believe it," Percy said, turning to Arty, another waitress at the bar and her good friend. "Our very first _vampire_."

Arty inclined her brown head at the statement, tanned skin shining copper in the bar lights. "Well I'll be a hunting hound's uncle," Arty said, big, trepid smile lighting up her pretty face. "Would you look at that."

"Look at what?" Heph, Apostle's owner, asked from behind the bar. He was a good boss, but kinda overprotective of his staff. Most figured it was on account of he was injured in Desert Storm, knew how cruel the world could be and didn't want anyone else experiencing it.

"We got our first _vampire_," Percy grinned ear-to-ear.

Heph's expression pulled a bit at that, and he looked her over like a father watching his daughter go to her first dance with the town bad boy. "He's in your section, Perc," Heph said after a moment, uneasiness leaking into his words. "You be careful."

Percy smiled again, big and not fake like it usually was during her shifts. "Sure thing, boss," she said, grabbed her notepad and flounced over to the vampire's table like she was walkin; down the aisle, stamped off those thoughts the moment she reached him.

"Hi!" she said a little too cheerfully, the vampire looking up at her with a bit of a smirk. It made her kind of self-conscious then, but she pushed through it. "Welcome to Apostle's! It's so great to have you here. You're our first."

"First what?" the vampire asked, dark eyes under sharp, thick brows. Everything about him was sharp and thick, really. He was tall, not all the way slender with broad shoulders and thick muscles in his torso. His nose was sharp, his jaw was sharp, his lips a nice little cupid's bow. His hair was dark like his eyes, thick and messy and curling around his shoulders with old-fashioned sideburns. He was kind of handsome, she figured, in a pale, scary sort of way.

"Well, _vampire_," Percy whispered, smile still in place.

"Oh, don't mind Percy, mister," came the voice of a regular from the next table. Percy recognized it- it belonged to Pan Satyr. He and his wife, Lela, were meaner than a viper and always antagonizing Percy since they blew into town a couple of months ago. Now, not for the first time, she was wishin' they'd blow right back out. "She's crazy."

Her smile faltered then, but she was determined not to let it stop her. "What can I get you?" she asked the vampire, shaking an uncomfortable shiver out of her neck.

"Got any of that synthetic blood?" he asked her.

Ambrosia, he was talking about Ambrosia she realized. It was invented by the Japanese a few years ago, the whole reason the vamps came out of the coffin. It was said to sustain them with the nutritional values they needed, but didn't really cure their hunger as good as human blood.

"Oh my, I'm so sorry, but we don't got any," Percy said with a blush, going on a babble spree. "Heph ordered some a year ago, but it went bad on account of...well..." she smiled again, and added another, "I'm real sorry, sir," for good measure.

"Then a glass of red wine," the vampire said, giving her a lookdown that made the shivers come back, but in a good way, she kind of reckoned.

"Can you uh, drink it?" she asked before she could stop herself, a hand flying immediately to her mouth afterwards. "Mylanta, I'm sorry. That was real rude to ask."

The vampire looked unperturbed by her rudeness though, a soft smile gracing his sharp mouth. "I can't," he said, then leaned towards her conspiratorily. "But it'll give me a reason to be here, won't it?"

Percy smiled despite herself, gave a little, "Yes sir," before hurrying back to the bar to fill his order. "We need to get more Ambrosia," she told Heph, who simply nodded while filling a glass with the house wine.

"I don't like the way that vamp looks at you," he said as he handed the glass over to Percy. "Like he's starving and you're a tasty meal."

"Hey, don't talk like that to me," Percy said, small nose wrinkling. "I can take care of myself."

Just as she was about to turn and head back over to the vampire's table to give him his drink, the door to the bar opened and her brother blew in. Plute was a tall, good looking guy who knew it. He breezed right over to Percy and hugged her, figured he'd get brownie points with the ladies for being good to family, especially crazy family like her.

"Who's loose tonight, Perc?" he asked as he pulled away.

Percy scrunched her nose again; she hated how her brother treated women like objects instead of people. "Take your pick," she said, knowing she couldn't stop him after years of trying.

Plute glanced around, smiled lazily at another waitress, Dite, who sneered back. She always acted like she hated him, but was actually sick for his attention. Most women were with Plute, except Arty, but Percy chalked that up to her high pride and liking girls, not egotistical, shallow boys.

But Plute was Percy's brother and she still loved him despite his selfishness, so she didn't reprimand him for making a beeline to Dite, who was puffing out her chest and scowling at him in disguised flirtation.

Shaking her head, Percy went back to getting the vampire his drink, only to come up disappointed to find he was sitting at the Satyr's table, talken it up with Pan and Lela. The latter was stretching her neck, runnin' her hands along it. Lela wasn't really pretty, Percy knew, but she was flashy enough most people couldn't tell until it was too late. Especially when they were hungry, like the vampire, what with Lela doing the neck thing and all.

That _bitch_, Percy thought for a split second, then immediately reprimanded herself, 'cause it wasn't her business how people acted, who they flirted with, even if she did feel an irrational claim over the vampire.

But Lela was flirting with danger, and Percy knew it the moment she walked up to the table to set down the vampire's wine.

She _heard_ Lela, and Pan too.

_Dear God he's a big one. Lots of blood, probably more than five pints. That's seven-hundred dollars we can get out of him. Oh man, just take him out back and..._

"You don't go anywhere!" Percy said before she could stop herself, all three parties looking up from the table at her in shock. Percy stared only at the vampire, trying to convey the sudden danger she felt him in. It didn't matter if Pan and Lela were soon to die- he might be too, with the way they were thinking of draining him.

Draining.

Percy had heard of it, and she didn't trust hide nor hair of the Satyr's no matter their sentence. People's sentences changed all the time anyways, and she didn't want their deaths to switch over to the vampire for some big reason.

"I'm gonna get ya'll some beer. On the house." She rushed off after a moment, back to the bar to grab a pitched. "We gotta do somethin'," she said to Heph urgently, Arty back from one of her tables and glancing over in concern. "They're gonna drain him!"

Heph looked shocked that Percy knew, but he was one of the few that she'd told about her disability, and so he took it with a grain of salt and schooled his features back into place. "That ain't our business," he said.

"It is our business if it's against the law!" Percy said urgently. "We can't just stand back and let him die!"

"He's already dead," Arty said, not with malice exactly, but as a matter of fact.

"_Uh_," Percy said in frustration, grabbing the pitcher and shaking her head. "You two are somethin'."

"Percy," Arty tried, but Percy was already marching back to the Satyr's table only to stop in her tracks and find the whole party gone.

"Shit," she cursed, set the pitcher down and rushed off without a second thought.

Plute was flirting with a new girl at the front of the bar, Dite having obviously gotten irritated with him already. "You still got that length of chain in the back of yer truck?" she asked him.

"Always," Plute said. "Are you gonna fight, Perc?" 'cause that's exactly what he kept the chain for.

"I sure hope not," Percy said, nerves coiling in her stomach.

"Need some help?" Plute asked, 'cause she was family.

"No, I'm fine," she said, shucking off her apron and handing it to him. "Tell Heph I'll be back in a bit." She went out the door quickly as not to be stopped.

The front of Apostle's was a large, black lot with gravel at the edges and Louisiana woods hanging all around. She found Plute's truck without difficulty, a big, flashy black thing with vines painted on the sides. He sure loved to be noticed. The chain was in the bed where he'd said it would be and she made sure to pick it up without makin' a sound. It had moss on it, years of sitting in the rain and heat; the flora thrummed under her fingers, breathing life into her like plants had a way of doing.

Percy figured that the Satyrs would take the vampire to the front edge of the lot, where the trees overlapped the cars and there was a pseudo sense of privacy. She creeped over real quiet, 'cause while she wasn't the slimmest girl in the world, she was agile. She'd grown up running in meadows and light on her feet from it, strong-legged and waspy waist with a good amount of meat on her bones that made her real substantial for fighting. Not that she'd fought much before, not since on the playground in sixth grade when Atty Gardens had called her blonde, messy curls for hair stupid and she'd punched him right in the teeth for it.

The Satyrs were exactly where she'd pegged them to be, the vampire on the ground and covered head-to-toe in a silver chain. His skin was sizzling underneath, but the Satyrs didn't care; Lela was hissing at Pan to keep a better look out, and the man was twitching, waiting for another fix.

Taking a deep breath, Percy swung out the chain, hitting the man in the back. He went down with a howl, Lela cursing before Pan got back up, taking something shiny out of his boot. On account his time was drawing close, Percy could hear what he intended to do with that knife, and it kinda made her a little crazy for real. Before Pan could even lunge, she threw the mossy chain at him and _forced_. The thrumming, silver links wrapped around the man's neck.

Well, there goes Plute's chain, Percy thought offhandedly.

He dropped the knife, spitting and choking as he fell to his knees while losing breath. Percy wasted no time in scooping up the knife, holding it out like she knew how to use it when Lela lunged for her. "You stay back," she said.

"You crazy bitch!" Pan was spewing through snot and spit from the ground.

"We're gonna kill you for this," Lela said, moving to grab the blood bags from the ground where she'd left them next to the vampire.

"Leave it!" Percy warned, watched as Lela glared at her and grabbed her husband from off the ground, threatening the whole way. "My time's not up yet," Percy said to them as they rushed past, getting into their car and slamming the doors. The engine revved and Percy understood that they'd just gained a new weapon then, hurriedly rushing to the vampire and grabbing him around the shoulders. "Kick with your legs!" she screamed, pulling him deeper into the brush just before the car hit them, Lela swerving to avoid a large pine and driving off into the night like a mad hound from hell.

"Mylanta!" Percy gasped, setting the vampire down gently. She noticed the silver still on him then, the way it was sizzling into his skin. "Oh, you poor thing," she said, going to remove the chains slowly, his flesh tearing away with it. "Poor baby," she cooed, realizing too late how incongruous that probably sounded.

She finished unwinding the chain from the vamp, who hissed as she got to the last of it and ripped it off like a bandaid. "Are you okay?" she asked, and at his dark look finished with, "Do you want me to go?"

"No," he said, surprising and elating her. He waited a moment to back it up with, "I'm still injured and not ready to fight. I need someone here to help in case they come back."

"Oh," she said, elation falling. "Well, I..."

She turned away, giving him some time alone because she knew how much it hurt to heal with people watching. A few moments later she could tell he was beginning to sit up, turned back and saw that he seemed completely fine, no marks from the chain or anything. "Oh, my, _stars_," she whispered, gazing at smooth, pale skin. "I guess you really can heal like it's nothin'."

"Yes," the vampire said.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here sooner," Percy blurted before she could stop herself. "I'm sorry they hurt you."

"But you saved me," he said, and Percy could hear the downtrodden tone in his voice. He didn't like being saved by a girl, she figured. Typical male.

"It's fine," she said.

"Thank you," he said, almost begrudgingly, rudely even.

And then, 'cause he'd been rude, she decided to be rude right back. She wanted to read him, 'cause even though he hadn't died, he'd been close to it, and there'd be something left. Either that or she'd sense the life in him, could get a few thoughts out if she really dug deep enough. And so she tried and...nothing.

"I can't _hear_ you!" she exclaimed almost excitedly.

"Thank you," he said again, stressing the syllables with his mouth.

"No!" she said, and in a moment of irrational happiness grabbed his face and looked deep into his eyes. "I _hear_ you, but I can't...hear, you. Wow..."

"What _are_ you?" the vampire asked then, and all her giddiness fell away and left embarrassment in her path.

"I'm sorry," she said, dropping her hands. "That was incredibly outlandish of me." She sat back, her knees no longer supporting her crouching.

"What _are_ you?" the vampire asked again, his dark gaze still on her.

"Well I'm..." she felt nervous from his attentions, but not a bad nervous. Butterflies, she felt butterflies. Clearing her throat, she tried again. "I'm Percy Hagne, and I'm a waitress."

"But you're more than that," he said.

"Not really," she answered.

They were both quiet a moment, awkward silence between them. And then he said, "You can drink the blood they took from me, if you'd like."

"Ew, _no_," she said, disgusted by the idea of drinking blood.

"I hear it makes humans feel healthy and improves their sex life," he said, side-eyeing her.

"Well I'm as healthy as a horse," she said. "And I have no sex life to speak of, so..." At that last part he smirked at her and she blushed, looking down irrationally. The silver chain the Satyrs had used on him was still on the ground where she'd left it when taking it off, and she picked it up to toy with anxiously as he kept staring at her.

"You could sell it," the vampire tried again.

"No, you keep it. It's yours," she answered, looking up at him.

She felt he was testing her when he said, "You'd make a pretty penny."

"I wouldn't touch it," she said honestly.

He was quiet again another moment, and to distill the awkwardness she started explaining why she'd come out to help him, about how she'd known the Satyrs were bad news and he shouldn't have gone with them. "...and so I just figured I'd come out and offer to help," she finished lamely, glancing over to him under her lashes.

"You came out to defend me. It was brave." He was speaking to her in a sort of seductive loll, bedroom eyes and the peak of fangs behind his lips. She figured he was using the type of voice that would get Dite to drop her pink, satin panties in a second.

"Now you cut that out, mister," she said, looping the chain around her neck protectively.

"But don't you think it was a bit foolish," he said, eyeing the chain with a cool, calm edge. "Vampires often turn on those who trust them. We don't have simple human natures like you're used to."

"Humans often turn on those who trust them too," Percy said, 'cause while she was young, she had been around the block a few times. "Besides, I think you're just tryin' to scare me."

"But you should be afraid," he said. "Out here all alone with a hungry vampire."

"That's why I have this," she said, motioning to the chain. "I'm not completely inept."

He smirked, let his gaze trail down between her legs. "Yes, but there's an artery in the groin I'm particularly fond of," he said in that sultry way of his.

"Don't talk dirty to me!" Percy snipped. "I'm a lady and you will speak to me as such in my company."

That seemed to snap the vampire out of it, his gaze rising to hers as he sat up fully from where he'd been lounging against the ground. "My apologies, Ms. Hagne."

"You're forgiven," she said, not wanting to stay mad at him long 'cause she figured after the night he'd had, he'd never come back again, and she didn't want to leave her first and possibly only experience with a vampire off on a bad note. "I never did ask your name," she said eventually.

"Had," he said, and before Percy could stop herself, she doubled over laughing.

"Had? Vampire Had," she giggled. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she offered at his offended look; "it's just that I was expecting somethin' more like Odysseus, or Hercules or even Paris. Not..._Had_."

"It is what I go by, though my full name is Hades Aidon," he said, almost self-conscious. That warmed her heart, seeing a vampire embarrassed.

"It's a nice name," she placated. "My real first name's Kore, if that makes any difference. But I go by Percy, which is short for my middle name."

"Which is?" He was staring at her intensely, and the warmth from her heart spread, melting her bones.

"Persephone," she breathed, and held his dark gaze another moment. Then she realized she must have been out here forever and surged to her feet, making sure to dust off her shorts and that her sock collars were even. "Well, it was real nice meeting you, Had. Despite the..." she trailed off, waving around her flippantly. "Ci_r_cums_tanc_e_s_. But I gotta get back to work."

"Nice meeting you too, Persephone," he said, her name like a lover's caress coming off his tongue.

She swallowed, unwinding the chain from her neck and standing there awkwardly another moment. "Well, bye," she said, and rushed off, leaving him in the darkness.

* * *

"You'll never believe what happened tonight," she told her mother later that night after her shift, handing off her pills. Demi was in remission, but the chemo had really taken its toll on the already fragile woman. She'd worked in her gardens all day, Percy knew from the dirt on her mother's hands. Demi must be tired, but Percy had to share the news.

"You got a date," he mother smirked, though Percy knew Demi would be upset if she had. Her mother had been overprotective since her father had died in a freak flood when Percy was nine, and it had been hard enough for Demi to see her off to college for two years upstate, let alone lose her to a romantic companion.

"No," Percy laughed, going over to take the kettle off the stove once it had announced the water was hot for Demi's nightly cup of peppermint tea. "We got our first vampire!"

She'd come back into the bar after incident floating on air, everyone staring at her. Luckily Plute had gone off, probably with the girl he'd been flirting with before, so he wouldn't nag her about losing his chain. Heph and Arty had simply looked at her, said nothing, but she could feel how disapproving they were.

Much like she was feeling from Demi.

The ailing woman said nothing as Percy finished steeping the mug, turned back to her mother worriedly. "Oh," Demi finally said when Percy looked at her imploringly. "Well you...you be careful."

Percy didn't know what to make of that, simply sat down at the table after handing Demi her tea and pouring another cup for herself. Both women waited in silence for a while, before Demi struggled up from her chair and kissed Percy on the forehead. "Goodnight, Kore," she said, the only one to call Percy by her real name; muttered another, "You be careful," before heading up for bed.

Percy sat at the kitchen table a while longer then, mulling over those words, hadn't realized she'd fallen asleep until a knock at the back door woke her. She walked to it bleary-eyed and opened the screen, shocked beyond words to see Had standing there.

"Hello," she said, stepping out into the swampy night air.

"Hello," he answered, and took her hand.

"I didn't think I'd see you again," she whispered.

He smiled, fangs and all.

"I didn't think...that we'd..." she blushed, wondering if he could hear her pulse rushing, feel the way the blood was going straight between her legs.

"Who said anything about that?" he asked, before sinking his fangs into her neck.

* * *

She woke with a start, breath rushing out of her and her old tabby, Kiane, looking at her with big, yellow eyes from atop the table. "Stop that," she said, flicking the cat away, stumbled up to bed with the taste of blood and, strangely, pomegranates, in her mouth.


	2. Duly Noted

Percy was shocked and pleasantly surprised when the vampire came back the next night.

She was minding her own business, waiting tables, collecting her tips, talkin' it up with Arty and her twin brother, Pollo, since they were here on Arty's night off to get drunk and find someone to go home with besides their lonely selves, when the vampire breezed through the door like it was nothin'. But it was far from nothin' really- everyone had realized what he was by this point, and staring was an understatement for what they did at his entrance.

Had sat at the same table as the night before (she hoped it was because he wanted to make sure he was in her section), his skin not as pale as Percy remembered. He fed, she thought astoundingly, walked up to him with the same, unfake smile she just couldn't help.

"Hey," she said, blushed as she remembered her dream from the night before after looking into his dark eyes. At least his fangs were put away, but she was almost...sad? about it.

"Hello," Had said, taking in the way her hair was only partially clipped back tonight instead of in a ponytail. She'd done it on purpose- her small experiences with dating had taught her that people liked it down.

"We've got Ambrosia tonight," she said cheerfully. She'd been happy to see it in the beer fridge, giving Heph a little kiss on the cheek for what she considered a personal favor. "Is there a specific type you like?"

"A positive, if you have it," Had said.

"That's my blood-type," she blurted, blush intensifying as he smirked at her. "I'll uh- I'll get that right up for you."

She trotted over to the bar and asked Heph for the drink, who simply looked at her worriedly as he uncapped it and heated it up in the microwave behind the bar. "Be careful," he told her as he handed the bottle off.

"What are you, my mother?" Percy murmured as she took the bottle and headed back to Had, setting it down with another grin.

"Sit with me a moment?" Had asked, reaching out a hand towards her then.

She blinked, took his hand softly and gasped at the way the life in the bar stopped thrumming around her. Everything went quiet, just her hand in his as she sat down mystified and reveled in it.

"Everyone's staring at us," Had said after a moment, snapping her attention back.

"It's just 'cause I'm crazy," she said.

"No, it's because I'm a vampire and you're mortal," he said, and in that moment she caught a snip of an accent, not the usual southern drawl she was used to, but something older, more rich and pronounced.

"Who cares what they think," she whispered.

"I do," Had said, surprising her- he sure did that a lot. "I'm trying to fit in here, Percy. Make a good name for my self. Mainstream."

"Should I get up?" she asked softly, not really wanting to.

"Probably," he said.

"Okay," she frowned, going to stand.

He squeezed her hand though, making her stay. "Can we speak tonight?" he asked her. "Do you get off before dawn?"

"Around one-thirty," she said, a sort of elation in her chest that he wanted to see her, even just in private where he wouldn't be judged.

"Good," he said, stood with her this time and let go of her hand.

The world flooded back in around her, stifling.

"I'll see you then." He left, took his Ambrosia with him and dropped a twenty on the table, way too much.

She thought to call after him, but he was already gone. Letting out a small laugh, she took the bill up to the counter for Heph to break and give her the tip from. "I don't like the way he looks at you," Heph said again, same as last night.

"Yeah, yeah, like he's hungry and I'm a tasty meal. Ya'll are all crazier than me," Percy said, and went back to work.

* * *

At one-thirty sharp, the bar was all closed up and Percy moved into the lot, waiting for Had eagerly. She only felt the sense of death when it was too late, a sharp crack to her skull and her body plummeting forwards.

"Told you we'd get you, you stupid fangbanging whore," said Lela from above her, landing a sharp kick to Percy's gut.

She whined, tried to fight her off when Pan slammed his boot into her face and made her taste blood. She spit it out, tried to scream but he kicked her again and the world went spiraling.

I'm gonna die, she thought bleakly, but she couldn't feel her time, just theirs.

They kept going at her for a minute or two, sharp kicks and so much pain that Percy could see stars, blood marring the vision from a cut on her head where Lela's heel sliced the skin open.

"Momma," Percy tried to cry.

"Aw, how cute," Pan said, kicking Percy in the spine a few times; everything went numb then. "Baby girl's callin' out for her momma. Better call for your fanger, bitch! Your momma ain't gonna be able to help you!"

Another kick to her face and Percy all but blacked out, ticked down their numbers in her head. Something was coming- she could see it like a stopwatch above their heads. The bushes were rustling, and Pan's numbers went out just as he was thrown across the lot, head hitting a tree violently so his neck snapped. Lela screaming, her numbers gone too as she met the same fate.

Percy coughed. "Momma," she said again, just as strong, cold arms picked her up.

She was carried back to the same spot from last night, where the Satyrs had tried to drain Had. The arms around her loosened, set her down on the forest floor. She looked up through the haze in her head to find dark, dark eyes.

"Had," she said, voice groggy.

_Well, isn't this ironic_, a voice in the back of her head laughed.

"Dear Gods, Percy..." he said, worry evident on his face.

"I can't feel my legs," she whispered; she could barely feel anything besides the warmth of her blood pooling around her.

Had took in a deep breath, shook his head and rolled up the sleeve of his shirt. She watched astoundedly as he bit into the skin, gaping holes dripping a deep, thick red. "Drink," he ordered her, putting the wound towards her mouth.

"No," she said, pushing him away feebly.

"Do you want to die!?" he all but yelled, and 'cause she didn't, she drank.

The taste was daunting at first, metallic and rotten, but the more she drank the better it got. No wine she'd ever had had been as sweet, as spicy. It had the slightest hint of pomegranates and she swallowed it like a drowning person gulping for air.

Had held her head up for her, moaned softly as she lapped at the wounds, trying to get as much as she could. Eventually he made her stop, even though she didn't want to. When he pulled the wound away he bit into his tongue, sealed the bite marks with more blood. Percy laid there dazedly, her body feeling euphoria where there once had been pain and nothingness. It only took a few minutes for her to be able to sit up, chest rising and falling rapidly.

"Oh my stars," she said, as astounded as last night; she kicked her legs, feeling stronger than ever. "Do doctors know about that?"

"No," Had smiled. "And vampires would like to keep it that way."

Percy grinned, looking at her hands and the dried blood where scrapes had once been. The copper of her skin was unmarred everywhere besides the freckles she'd had since she was young- like new. She was so busy marveling over it she barely registered Had leaning in until she felt his tongue swipe at her forehead, two long licks that made her shiver and had heat pooling between her thighs. When he pulled away she could literally feel the wound closing.

"Wow," she said, looking up at him with big, forest green eyes.

Had chuckled. "May I ask you a personal question, Percy?"

"You just licked blood off my forehead," she giggled. "Doesn't get much more personal than that, Had."

"Touche," he quipped, stared at her a moment longer before asking, "What _are_ you? And don't say just a waitress again."

She froze, realized he'd just saved her life and she owned him as much as a simple explanation. "I'm kind of psychic," she said, and at his inclined nod took a deep breath to continue. "I can sense when people are gonna die, and when they're close, I can hear their thoughts, sort of. I can also read minds of pregnant women, the new life in them. If I dig real deep I can do it to anyone, but that's real hard and takes too much out of me so I try not to. Except..."

"Except..." Had implored.

"With you, last night," she blushed. "I know it was rude but I wanted to see if I could."

"And?"

"And nothing," Percy laughed. "Couldn't hear a thing, couldn't feel a thing. It was...nice."

"Nice?" Had asked, seeming confused by the statement.

"Yeah," Percy nodded. "It gets kind of overwhelming, feeling the life in ev'ryone, or the death in them. It's like this huge swell always batting against my subconscious and I can't get it out. Except with you."

"That's probably because I'm already dead and there's nothing to sense," Had said, a bit of a secret smirk at the edges of his sharp mouth.

"Maybe," Percy said. "But I bet I could tell if you're ever close to dying again."

Had's pleasant expression fell for a moment, and she worried she'd insulted him before he shook his head and stood, offering her his hand. She took it willingly, let him lead her to her feet and back into the vacant lot. She just now realized the Satyrs were gone, wondered if they hadn't died after all but was still too foggy to really ask. Instead she looked at the lights in Heph's trailer off to the side of Apostle's and tilted her head curiously.

"Heph's still up," she said aloud, worrying her lip.

Had nodded, led her to her car silently. She hadn't even realized that was the intended destination until they were there, her mood falling as she realized he meant for her to go.

"I guess this is goodnight then," she said to Had. "Thank you. For saving me."

"The favor returned," he said, not condescendingly, just sincerely. "Percy?"

"Yes," she asked, paused in digging around in her pockets for her keys.

"May I...call on you sometime?" Had asked, looking the epitome of an inexperienced school boy as he glanced down at his feet and shuffled them around nervously.

"Of course," Percy said, almost too happily. "Like on a date, you mean?"

"Well, yes," Had said, looking up at her and catching her dead in his dark gaze. "I'd very much like to court you, Ms. Hagne."

Percy found herself laughing, didn't bother to stop herself as she leaned up on tiptoes to kiss him. He was a good foot taller than her, but he stooped the last couple of inches to let their lips meet, just a soft, chaste kiss that tasted like pomegranates.

"I haven't been on a date in a long while. I'd like it if we could date," she said stupidly when it was done, pulling away and blushing once more.

"Surely you've had suitors though," Had said, almost astounded to hear of her perpetual dry spell.

"I've tried," she said, not wanting to dote on bad memories as she explained, "But it's hard to get close to people when you can literally feel them dying."

"You don't have to worry about that with me," he said.

"No," she chuckled, a warmth blooming in her stomach. "I don't."

* * *

It wasn't until the next morning that she heard on the news the Satyrs had been smushed in what everyone said was a tornado hitting their trailer; she pretended she had no idea of what her mother was looking at her suspiciously about.

* * *

She and Had made plans for him to come over and pick her up two nights later. She didn't have a shift at Apostle's, so she spent the hours before dusk primping her hair and putting on make-up. She didn't wear it often, but some mascara and lipstick brought out the bright of her eyes, the pink of her lips.

Her skin was a natural tan, Spanish heritage from her father and a little bit of French and Jamaican from her mother's side. She dotted on some blush to dull her pesky freckles, kept her golden blonde curls down and squeezed into a sundress that emphasized her good amount of cleavage and ample backside. While she was a bit insecure about how soft she was in the stomach and thighs, she knew it was best not to dote on that and bring out her better assets instead.

When she got downstairs after strapping on some cute Roman wedges, she fully expected to grab her purse and wait out front for Had before her mother could berate her about dating a vampire. All plans of this were squashed when she found Plute on the couch, as well as Arty and her mother.

"What's all this?" Percy asked, guard instantly up.

"We wanna meet this fanger of yours," Plute said, distaste apparent in his tone.

"How'd you know...?" Percy started, caught Arty's sheepish look and glared.

"We're just looking out for you, Perc," Arty said.

"More like being overbearing," Percy said, sat down next to her glaring mother.

The doorbell rang a few minutes later, just after dusk, and Percy jumped up, rushed over to answer it. "Hi," she said to Had urgently. "Expect the Spanish inquisition."

His features pulled up, and Percy retreated back a bit apologetically, keeping the door open for him to come in.

"You have to invite me," he said self-consciously.

"Seriously?" Percy laughed.

"Yes," he said.

"Oh," she squeaked. "Had, please do come in."

He began to step forwards, but she stopped him with a sly smile and a little slip forwards of the door. "And if I were to rescind the invitation?"

"I'd have to leave immediately," he said very seriously.

"Duly noted," Percy grinned, opening the door wide.

Back in the living room, everyone unabashedly stared. It was her mother who spoke first though, standing and messing with the scarf around her bald head worriedly. "Hello, Mr. Aidon," Demi said, giving him a critical eye.

"Mrs. Hagne," he inclined his head respectively.

"Please, call me Demi," Demi said with a bit of a harsh tone. "You know Arty, Kore's friend from the bar. And this is Plute, her older brother."

"Arty, Plute," Had bowed.

"Fanger," Plute mumbled under his breath.

"Plutus Arion Hagne!" Percy shouted, glowering at him with everything she had; he shrunk down.

"It's alright," Had said civilly. "I know this all must be terribly new to everyone, but I want to establish I have the utmost respect for Percy. My intentions are gentlemanly, I swear."

"I think we should give him a chance," Arty piped up from where she was sitting Indian style on the couch. "He's way better than that girl from Arkansas Percy brought home over Spring Break three years ago, right?"

At that, Had smirked at Percy, and she blushed. Echo had been a girl she'd met in her freshman Lit. class during college; she'd looked like the peaches and cream version of sex on a stick and Percy had been enamored by her. They'd fizzled out before anything real had happened- Percy could smell the death on her and had pulled away, gone to the funeral during the summer when Echo had died from a coke overdose.

"At least she was _alive_," Plute input.

"Oh my G_a_-w_d_," Percy hissed, wrapped her arm around Had's and pulled him back. "We're leaving!"

"Lovely to have met everyone," Had said, still chivalrous as ever as Percy practically dragged him out of the house behind her.

"The nerve of him!" Percy said, shaking her head as she marched down the steps. "I'm sorry about that. He's just testy 'cause he got in a fight with Dite the other night when she caught him sneakin' out after they did it."

Had said nothing in regards to her comment, simply smirked and led her to a shiny, black sportscar she hadn't noticed before. _Wow_, she thought; who knew the undead could be rich?

"I figured we could go dancing," Had said, as he opened her door for her.

"That would be...nice," Percy said. She hadn't been dancing since she'd had to drop out of college two years ago.

Had smiled as he shut her door, got into the driver's seat in the blink of an eye. "Stars," Percy gasped.

"Super speed is one of the perks of my second life," Had said, the engine starting with a pur after he turned the keys in the ignition.

"I'll bet," Percy said, staring blankly as the road began to blur past them after he'd pulled away from her front drive.

They drove in silence for a while, Percy marveling that this was really happening to her, that she was on a date with a vampire.

"Penny for your thoughts," Had said, reaching over to take her hand in his.

"That's my schtick," she laughed.

"Did you really date a woman?" he asked her, wagging his brows suggestively.

"Oh my stars!" she blushed, pulling her hand from his and grabbing her heating face. "How did I know you'd fixate on that?"

"I'm simply curious," he grinned.

"Yes, I did," she sighed, tucked her purse in her lap and opened to pull out her lipstick, dabbing the color on for something to do and keep her blush from getting too bad, making her sweat. The last thing she needed to do was smell like B.O.; she figured he'd know the moment her deodorant started expiring thanks to his super senses. "It was just a tryst. She- well, she liked to do bad things. I couldn't stay with her knowing..."

"That she'd die?" Had finished for her.

"Yes," Percy said, putting her lipstick away and finally looking at him. "She did, that summer."

"I'm sorry."

"Thank you," Percy said, gave a soft laugh after a moment. "She was my first serious partner. We never did anything other than kissing, but despite what ev'ryone else said, she was really good to me when she wasn't off partying with her friends."

"Ah," Had said, turning to look back at the road. "That explains it."

"Explains what?" Percy asked.

"Why you smell so sweet," he said, glanced over at her from the side of his eyes. "You're a virgin."

"Hey!" Percy snipped. "That's none of your business!"

"It's alright, Percy," Had said seriously. "You don't want to rush into that kind of thing. I understand."

"Intimacy is just...difficult for me," she said lamely. "I think you get why."

"I do," Had said. "You're afraid people will leave. But I won't- I _can't_." And the way he said that last word, it was so sobering, so meaningful, Percy couldn't find it in herself to speak the rest of the drive.

They ended up at a club in Olympus, one she remembered from college days that didn't card. Back then she was grateful for it, now it didn't matter much.

Had used his admitted super speed to open her door for her, making her head whirl. "You gotta stop doing that," she giggled at him. "It's disorientating."

He smirked, offered her his arm which she greatly took. They didn't even have to wait in line for the bouncer to let them in- one look at Had and he was pulling back the velvet rope. Percy gaped; she remembered having to wait for hours to get into this place before she'd associated with vampires.

Inside the heat was stifling, bodies grinding and music bleeding into Percy's ears. She remembered then why she liked dancing- while the life and death was thrumming all around, the base drowned it out. As did her skin touching Had's where the sleeve of his shirt was rolled up to his elbow.

He took them to the bar, asked her what she wanted. "Pomegranate martini," she said before she could stop herself, irrational blush forming.

Or maybe it wasn't so irrational by the way he looked at her, shared secrets in his expression as he ordered the martini for her and an a-positive Ambrosia for himself. Once they'd gotten their drinks he took her to a small table on one of the levels above the dance floor, pulled her chair out for her and let his hands linger near her shoulders before sitting down himself in the chair across from her.

"I used to come here," she tried to tell him over the din in the club.

Thankfully his attuned hearing caught it. "When you were in college?"

"Yeah!"

"Why'd you leave?" he asked, having figured it out for himself she should be in her last year, shouldn't be in nowhere Eleusinian as a waitress in a run-down bar.

Percy smiled sadly, took a sip from her drink and let the burn settle her. "My mother got sick. Breast cancer."

"I could smell it on her," Had said, not insultingly, just so.

"Me too," Percy said. "I was worried when I left home after break. When I came back for the summer it'd spread. She had to do chemo. She's in remission now, but the death's still there, underneath..."

The sudden, cold hand around hers was grounding, and Percy looked up to meet his gaze. "She'll be okay, Percy," he said. "I can also smell she's getting better. Her body's fighting."

"I know," Percy said, resisted the urge not to cry. "It's just that she and Plute are all I have left. I never knew my grandparents, and the only siblings my parents have are a sister on my mom's side. But they don't talk..."

"How did you lose your father?" Had asked softly, fingers rubbing soft circles against the back of her palm.

"Freak flood," Percy said, shook her head and sniffed. "It happened when I was nine. Plute was eleven. Mom was heartbroken; they were so in love..."

"So what were you majoring in college?" Had asked to change the subject, and she was thankful for it.

"Botany, with a minor in business. I love flowers, and wanted to open my own shop," she smiled, the dream running wild in the back of her head.

"There's still plenty of time," Had said, and it made her stomach flutter with the way he looked at her with such confidence in the ideal.

"What about you?" Percy asked. "Surely vampires still have to make some kind of living?"

"I'm in the death business," he said, and at her blatantly terrified look laughed. "I make specialized coffins for vampires to sleep in. I'm working on one that can travel with flights. Very lucrative."

"That's...impressive," Percy said, and at his sarcastic tilt of the head said, "No, really. I bet they're beautiful."

"I do good work, yes," he said, not boastful, just honest.

She grinned, glanced towards the dance floor with all the moving bodies and turned wistful.

"Would you like to dance?" Had asked.

"Yes!" she said a little too quickly.

He chuckled, kept hold of her hand and led her to the dance floor. He was quite good, all things considered. She'd thought 'cause he was, well, _dead_, he'd be a bit stiff, but as always Had surprised her, spinning her around and keeping better time to the beat than her. She'd taken dance classes when she was young, used a few hip-hop moves to keep time with him.

A song with a heavy beat came on just after they'd gotten there and she turned bold with it, spinning in his arms and pressing her backside against him, grinding. It made her pulse race the way he groaned and gripped her hips tightly, almost possessively as other men around them stared while she swayed. A few girls looked too, eyes intent on Had. Percy felt kinda powerful from it, being one of the only girls here who had a vampire to call her own. She still knew he was a person, of course, but for once she wasn't looked at as the crazy girl, just a sultry woman dancing with the enticing undead.

"You're killing me all over again," Had said then, breath hot on her ear; she shivered as he pressed his evident arousal into the small of her back, grinding down against her ass.

"Maybe that's the plan," she gasped as he spun her around, his mouth on hers in the next instant.

This kiss wasn't like the chaste one from the night before- it was greedy and suggestive, his tongue plunging into her mouth like a hint of things to come. She moaned, the taste of him sharp like the Ambrosia he'd been drinking, heady like the whisper of pomegranates in the bottom of her own glass.

When he pulled away she was a bit frantic, trying to pull him back. He shook his head, and she spied the peek of fangs under his top lip. "Oh," she said, reaching up to touch the points. A bit of a blood welled from the pressure, and he quickly took the digit into his mouth, sucking on it sensually.

She whimpered, blinking hard as he released her finger and licked his lips. "What are you, Persephone Hagne?"

"You already know," she whispered.

He laughed, leaned down to touch his forehead to hers and stare into her eyes hard. "Oh but you're so much more than you claim to be," he said.

She felt overwhelmed by the look, a secret hidden in his tone. Sucking in a breath she broke from his embrace, brushed her hands down her front to settle her dress. "I have to use the bathroom!" she said stupidly, winced and didn't further her embarrassment by rushing off to where she remembered the ladies room being, leaving an astounded Had behind.

Once inside the crisp white walls, she let out a sigh of relief, bracing her head against a mirror above one of the many sinks. A few women were in there too, finished their business and fixing their makeup before leaving Percy alone.

Trembling, she looked up at her reflection in the mirror and laughed. Her hair was a mess, curls everywhere. Her mascara was smudged, her clothes rumpled and she could see the beginning of bruises on her hips when she checked. But that wasn't the best thing- the best thing was her lips, swollen from kisses and flecked with leftover Ambrosia from Had's mouth, red and telling a tale she never imagined herself having.

"Well aren't we just the giddy little fangbanger?"

She turned then, startled to find a beautiful woman walking through the door and smirking at her. She was tall, long limbs and skin darker than even Hyper's, Apostle's cook with skin like midnight. The woman's hair was completely white though, luminescent almost. And her eyes- stars, her eyes were silver and _glowing_.

Percy couldn't read anything on her, and immediately she understood.

"H-hello," Percy said, trying to distill the sudden danger she felt curling in the room.

"Hmm," the woman purred, striding up next to Percy and looking her over leisurely. "I can see why Hades likes you. Such a plump little virgin, just ripe for the taking."

"Excuse me?" Percy asked, fear turning to instant distance. "How do you know Had?"

"We go way back," the woman said, a hint of something else in her voice.

_They had sex_, the not so oblivious part of Percy's mind told her, and instantly she felt inadequate next to this beautiful, deadly woman.

"Oh," Percy squeaked.

"Oh," the woman countered, advancing even closer until the strong lines of her thin body were pressed against Percy. She swallowed visibly, but refused to let this woman sense her fear. "I wonder if he's tasted you yet," the woman said, brushed a strand of hair out of Percy's face and saw something in the young blonde's eyes that elated her. "Gods! He has, but not as much as you've tasted _him_!" the woman laughed.

"That's none of your business," Percy said, trying to push away from the woman, but she had a deathgrip on Percy's shoulders by now, flirty smile turning to a gruesome sneer, her fangs popping out.

"Oh, but sweetie, it is my business!" the woman cackles. "See, he's trying to claim you! But we can't have that, now can we? No, he may feel you, but he shouldn't keep such a sweet little virgin's blood all to himself... So maybe he'll feel _this_."

The woman pulled Percy's neck back then, a scream bubbling in Percy's throat as she realized what the woman intended to do. But then the woman was pulled off before her fangs could sink in, thrown back into one of the stalls; the laminate broke on contact, the woman growling as Percy felt strong arms bracing her, moving her behind a solid form.

"She's _mine_, Nyx!" Had roared, Percy shrinking back from the sound of it.

"Not quite," the woman, Nyx, laughed as she stood and dusted debris off her shimmering, short dress. "You haven't bitten her yet, Hades. Where's your claim?"

"She's had my blood," Had snarled.

"That means nothing anymore," Nyx laughed, just as Percy heard the door to the bathroom open again. A man and a woman, two _vampires_, flounced in and leered at her. "We sell our blood to everyone these days. Give it out enough and you can't feel any of the pesky mortals who have drank it anymore."

"Not me," Had said, arms bracketing against Percy tighter as the new vampires advanced. "This has nothing to do with you, Helios, Eos. Leave."

"Oh, but it does, dear Hades," the male vampire said, shining teeth behind golden skin. "You just took a swing at our sister. And you're holding out on something delicious." He flicked his tongue in a suggestive motion at Percy and she felt like she might puke, buried her face between Had's shoulder blades to escape it.

"Fuck off!" Had growled, baring his fangs at all of them.

"Hades, Hades," said the newest female vampire, tan, exotic skin and dark, inky hair. "You know we're all older than you. How well do you think fighting us will go? Just a drink from her, and we'll leave."

"I said _fuck_. _Off_." Had snapped.

"Well, if you really want a fight..." Nyx said, getting ready to lunge.

It was then an attendant banged on the door, bouncers spilling in behind him. "I'm calling the cops!" the short, chubby man shouted.

"No need," said the male vampire, retracting his fangs and smoothing his golden hair away from his forehead. "We were just leaving."

In the blink of an eye, he and the two female vampires were gone. All the humans in the room stood stunned, Had still on the offensive against the newest patrons in the room. "We're going to have to ask you and your friend to leave, sir," the attendant said.

Had took a deep breath, turned to face Percy and check to make sure she was alright, ignoring the waiting attendant. "Are you alright? Did they hurt you?"

"I'm fine," Percy said, still in shock from the whole experience.

"We'll go," he said then, taking her hand and pushing past the attendant. A bouncer followed them to the door, though Percy saw what little good it would do. She'd witnessed how easily Had had killed the Satyrs, how easily he'd flung the strong and deadly Nyx into the stalls like it was nothing.

Had opened her door for her at the car and Percy got in numbly, didn't even care when he used inhuman speed to get into the driver's seat. He sped off without a second thought, cursing under his breath. She simply stared ahead, watching the road blur by.

"I'm so sorry, " Had said once they were back on the interstate to town. "Had I known they were there, I would have never-"

"Pull over," Percy said.

"I-what?"

"Pull over," Percy said. "I think I'm gonna puke."

He swerved off the road in a move that should have killed them had it been a human driving the car, but Had managed to stop them smoothly. Percy threw open the door, stuck her head out, and promptly dry heaved until the burn of the few sips of her drink came back up. She'd eaten dinner too long ago for it to follow, simply hiccupped before sitting back in the car, closing the door behind her.

Had held something out to her then- gum. She was still in too much shock to wonder why a vampire had use for such things. She took a stick, letting the mint of it quell her swirling stomach.

"What did Nyx mean when she said that you could _feel_ me, since I'd had your blood?" Percy asked, turning to look at him with accusing eyes.

Had rubbed the back of his head nervously. "When vampires feed a human their blood, it creates a connection. At least when they've only given it to a few. You're the third person I've given it to, the first I've ever been...intimate with. I'll be able to feel it when you're having intense emotions. Like back in the club, you were afraid and I felt it. That's why I came into the lady's room..." he shrugged a little embarrassedly.

"And you didn't t_ell _me that before I drank it?!" Percy shouted angrily.

"You were going to die!" he shouted right back, the sound jerking her away from him. He softened, voice ligtening as he said, "We didn't have time. And I don't regret it. Had I not been able to tell you were in danger then they could've..."

"You knew them," Percy said then, jealously fueling her anger. "You had _sex_ with that Nyx woman!"

"Only once," Had said. "Just right after I was turned. It was a mistake."

"But they were older than you," Percy said, feelings turning desperate. "Did they...did they turn you?"

"No," Had said. "My maker is on the other side of the world right now. I'm very old, Percy. She released me a long time ago."

"Released you?"

He sighed. "Vampire makers have a certain...hold, over their creations. My maker, Hecate, she let me go after she was sure that I could handle my bloodlusts and make an honest life for myself. That was nearly seven hundred years ago."

"Sev-seven hundred y_ears_!" Percy shouted.

"Well, what did you expect?" Had demanded.

"I don't know, maybe two hundred at most?!" Percy babbled irrationally. "_Seven hundred_ years? Oh my God! Why are you with me? Surely you've had better options... Seven hundred _years_. God you must think I'm an idiot!"

"No!" Had said, reached out unexpectedly and grabbed the sides of her face so she'd look at him. The thrill in her skin from the touch felt like a betrayal. How could she have ever been so attracted to him, let her guard down with a man, a _vampire_ she knew nothing about. "I think you're beautiful," he told her, the words meant for flattery but they only panicked her even more. "I think you're funny, and smart, and I want to be with you."

"But you're dead and I'm-" she stopped, seeing the sudden hurt she'd placed in his eyes with her words.

"Not," he finished for her, the hurt in his expression masking away to nothingness. He let go of her face then, turned around to face forwards and started the car. "I should get you home. It's late. You should be asleep, not awake like the dead."

"Had-" she started, was cut off by the sound of sirens.

For his part, only a muscle in Had's jaw twitched. Percy realized that not only had she hurt him, but she'd angered him too. And now the cop pulling up behind the car and asking Had to roll down the window was going to get the wrath of it.

"Evening sir," the officer, broad and bald, said; he inclined his head towards Percy, "Miss."

"Hello, officer," Percy said, sudden fake cheer; Had said nothing.

"Sir, you do realize you were doing ninety in a fifty-fifty zone, don't you?" the officer asked then, shining his flashlight over Had's face. Percy could see the exact moment of realization in the officer's eyes. "Why is that, _son_?"

"The lady's in a rush to get home," Had grit through his teeth, not even looking at the officer.

"I see," the officer said, looked over at Percy and frowned. "Miss, can I please see your neck?"

"_Why_?" Had snapped, finally meeting the officer's gaze.

The officer swallowed nervously, but didn't crack. "Precaution."

"It's alright, Had," Percy said, putting a hand on his arm; the vampire softened, but then seemed to remember he was mad at her and went stiff again. Sighing, Percy let go of him and moved her hands to shift her hair off her neck, letting the officer shine his flashlight on the skin there.

"Maybe you should shine the light between her legs," Had said then, Percy going open mouthed and the officer sputtering.

"What did you just say, son?" the officer barked.

"I said to shine the light between her legs," Had challenged. "There's a large artery down there that makes it so vampires don't have to _suck _as hard." Had flashed his fangs then, the officer stumbling back a step and pulling out his gun to aim at Had's head.

"Now you listen here-" the officer began.

"No, yo_u_ listen," Had said, looking straight into the officer's eyes. And Percy could sense it, not death, not life, but _control_. "I don't take kindly to you interrogating my friend over here, and seeing as I'm much older than you, I really don't take kindly to you calling me son, you got it?"

"Yeah," the officer said automatically, though Percy could tell he didn't want to.

"Good," Had said. "Now you're going to put that gun away, get back in your car, and forget you saw us, isn't that right?"

"Yeah," the officer said again, and did as told.

When his sirens retreated, Percy felt the _control_ vanish, Had turning to look at her with a blank sort of expression. "What the _fuck_ was that?!" she all but screamed.

"Glamouring," Had said, putting the car into drive and pulling back onto the road.

"Did you ever do it to me?" Percy asked, curious and also offended if he had.

"No," Had said. "What you felt for me before you realized my nature was all your own."

She was silent at that, let him drive her home and got out of the car quickly once they'd pulled into her drive. Had did too, but she stopped him before he could fully reach her.

"I don't think we should see each other anymore," she said, having considered the options in the car.

She was falling too fast for him, too hard, and she didn't even know him. She'd wanted someone different, like her, but not someone who could control people on a whim, someone who was seven hundred years old and had probably had loads of women better than her. This was probably just a game to him- get the little virgin to fall for a vampire. Other boys had tried before, wanted nothing from her besides their bit of blood. And even if what he did feel for her was real, who was to say he wouldn't get bored, he wouldn't _leave_. Everyone left, fleeting numbers, and she wasn't in the making for another death, no matter how ironic that kind of statement was.

"Why?" Had demanded, jaw taking on that hard edge from when the officer had approached their car.

"It's all too much," she said, biting back sudden, irrational tears. "I thought I could handle this, but I can't. I'm already too fucked up and I-" she took a step back, towards the front porch.

"Percy-" Had tried, reaching for her.

"You _killed_ the Satyrs!" she screamed.

He flinched. "They hurt you."

"That doesn't give you the right to end their time!" Percy screamed. "I knew it was up, I _knew_ but I-"

"Percy," he said, trying to reach for her again.

"No!" she said, holding a hand up in defense. "If you touch me then I won't be able to think and I- we can't see each other anymore."

She rushed into the house then, heard him call her name before he cursed, car door slamming shut the same time she shut the front door. He sped off into the night, and she didn't hold the tears in anymore as she walked into the living.

There she found her mother, much in the same state.

"Mom!" Percy cried, her own hurt stopping as it switched to her mother while she rushed the woman, who was sobbing on the couch.

"Oh Kore," her mother said, wrapping her up in a hug. "He didn't do it! He didn't _do _it!"

"Who didn't do it?" Percy asked, rocking her trembling mother softly. "Momma, what's going on?"

"Aphrodite Ourania was found strangled to death in her house this evening. The police think Plutus did it!" her mother cried, sobbing even louder into Percy's shoulder.

Percy stiffened, realizing too late that she may have made a mistake, as she suddenly wanted nothing more than Had's arms around her, telling her everything was alright and her entire life hadn't just gone straight to hell.


	3. Vampire Bait

Percy didn't see Had again for nearly three weeks after that night at the club. It seemed that in his absence her life had simply kept gettin' dragged through the mud, and probably a pile of glass coated in lemon juice too, if she were being honest.

Plute had been let out of questioning the day after the police had dragged him off in suspicion of Dite's death, but a week later another woman was murdered. Her name was Helen Troy; her husband, Pari, was away on tour in the military, and she'd let her loneliness lead her to screwing around, namely screwing around with Plute.

Sheriff Themi Put and deputy Mia Moth were knocking on Plute's door again right after Helen's body was found. That was three days ago, and he was still locked away in jail on circumstantial evidence. But despite that, despite his selfish nature and questionable morales, Percy knew he hadn't done it. Plute may have been an egotistical, womanizing bioque, but he didn't have it in him to murder anyone.

Demi was beside herself with grief; ev'ry moment Percy wasn't at Apostle's she was consoling the feeble woman, fixing her gallons of tea and making her eat despite Demi's protests so the woman could keep her strength up. Still, none of it wasn't helping- Percy could _feel_ the death on her mother. She'd retracted into herself from it, years of learned habit to pull away before it could hurt too bad to lose someone else that she loved.

In truth, it'd been like that since her father had died. When Percy was young, her parents had denied her abilities, had told her it was all in her head. So when she'd seen her father's time running out a few days before the flood, she hadn't said anything about it. She blamed herself for him dying, felt like if she'd said s_ome_thi_ng_, _any_thin_g_, or had just begged him not to go out that night, he'd still be here.

Sighing, she shook herself from the thoughts and tried to focus on the task at hand. It was a Friday night and Apostle's was packed, Heli handing her a large order for one of her tables. "Sugar, you look plumb tired down to the bone," the man said, waving his spatula at her dramatically. "Yous needs to go home and rest with your momma while this Plute shit blows over."

"Who says it's going to blow over though?" Percy asked him sadly, staring at one of the burgers on the tray she was holding with mute hopelessness.

"Well we all know Plute didn't fuckin' do it, so it's gonna work out, honey, you'll see," Heli chirped, flipping his spatula in the air and catching it with precision.

"Thanks, Heli," Percy said, trying to give him a smile- it was more like a grimace than anything though.

Heli smiled back at her with pity, shooed her off to tend to impatient customers. It was as she was walking to the table though that she heard it- little whispers here and there about the murders.

"_...yeah, but I heard they were both involved with _fangers_._"

"_...do you think that's why they were killed?_"

"_...but why would vampires strangle them instead of drainin' their blood...?_"

Percy stopped dead in her tracks, turned to face the table with a few local construction guys hanging about. Without thought, she set her tray down in front of the sorry looking lot and demanded, "Are you talking about Dite and Helen?"

One of the guys, Herme Eirein, an old friend of Plute's, looked up at her sheepishly. "Yeah," he said after an awkward moment of silence at being caught. "Both of 'em were apparently messing around with vamps as well as Plute. That's kinda a strange connection, right?"

"Dite met her vamp at a club in Olympus called Tartarus," another guy at the table said. "She talked to my wife about it at a town meeting 'couple days before she croaked."

"Did Helen go there too?" Percy asked, eager for any kind of lead into this. Vampires were good at faking deaths, she knew from experience. What if one of their kind had done it and she could track them down, make them admit it and clear Plute's name?

"Maybe," the third guy at the table said, rubbing his dark beard thoughtfully. "Most fangbangers go there to meet vamps." He looked at Percy a little judgingly then, and she bristled.

Luckily, Herme being the sweet soul he was said, "Ev'ryone's lookin' for company when they're lonely. Some just find it in...strange places. Ain't our right to judge- I just want Plute's name cleared. No way he did it. Guy's an ass, but not that big of an ass."

"He couldn't kill someone," Percy nodded, sloped her mouth to the side and considered their words some more as she picked her tray back up. "You said the club was in Olympus?"

"Yeah," answered Herme.

The bearded guy gave her a mean look again though, and said, "Don't you go gettin' any ideas, girl. A young lady like you goin' there alone? You could turn into the next victim."

Percy sneered right back at him. "I can take care of myself." And with that she trotted off, setting orders down in front of impatient customers.

* * *

She got off of work that night at one-thirty, Heph walking her to her car on her way out. She hadn't told him what had happened with the Satyrs, but ever since the incident he'd been more careful of her, like he somehow knew even though he didn't.

"Hey, Percy, listen," Heph said as she was taking out her keys.

She turned to look at him and smiled. "Yeah, Heph?"

The man chuckled nervously, looked down and rubbed a hand against the back of his strawberry blonde head. He was a cute guy, she'd always reasoned. Tall and broad with a beard that matched his hair and bright, bright blue eyes. He walked so well you couldn't tell he had a prosthetic leg, and even if you could it wasn't a deterrent to Percy- everyone had their imperfections, herself obviously included.

"What is it, Heph?" she asked him easily, tucking a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

"I was kinda wondering if maybe, well, there's this play coming to town next week- it's called Midas, I think- and I was wonderin' if you wanted to go see it with me?" he asked in a rush, and before she could answer continued, "I know I'm your boss and all, and that I'm a good bit older, but I just- you're a great girl, Percy. I'd really like to see some more of you outside of work."

She blinked, realizing he was asking her on a _date_. She felt a lit'le flutter in her stomach at the thought, but was instantly disappointed in figuring out it wasn't the elated kind- the butterfly kind she'd gotten with Had. Sure, she was flattered, but Heph _was_ her boss, and he had at least twelve years on her.

_It's better than seven hundred, _a voice in her head reasoned. _And he won't want to drink your blood._

"Sure," Percy said before she knew she was saying it.

"Really?" Heph asked, his face lighting up. "Alright, cool. I'll let you know the details when you come back in on Sunday, if that's good for you?"

"Yeah, that's fine," Percy said, brain on a sudden sort of autopilot. "I should go though. Gotta make sure Mom's okay."

"Right, of course," Heph said, held her door open for her after she'd unlocked it so she could climb in her car with little hassle. He leaned into the open space after, and for a moment she was afraid he was going to try and kiss her, knew she couldn't handle that at this point. Instead he just smiled again, wished her a good night.

"You too," she said, breathed a sigh of relief when he closed the door and stepped back so she could pull away from the lot.

She realized her mistake as soon as she'd gotten on the main road, felt a sort of..._guilt_ for agreeing to go out with him. "Shit," she groaned, knowing the exact reason why.

And, as always, she acted on impulse and took a left at the intersection she needed to take a right at to get home.

She'd heard from the locals where Had had moved into- the old Chthonic's mansion right off of Styx road. Her mother had cleaned house for the aging widow there when Percy was a kid, so she knew the route by heart.

When she pulled up in front of the place though, the breath left her lungs. The last she'd seen the property, it'd been in shambles. It was your typical Louisiana plantation styled house, three stories high with a sloping, column-lined front porch. But things weren't broken the way she remembered- the navy shutters pulled taut instead of hanging on their hinges. The white siding had been washed, the lawn mowed. Someone had even fixed the ancient tire swing hanging off a big willow in the front yard.

"Wow," Percy breathed, 'cause the house restored to its full glory was quite the sight.

She parked her car a ways down the front drive, saw Had's vehicle and figured he must be home. Then again, she'd never seen him driving before he'd taken her to the club. She guessed vampires probably didn't need cars for more than show, with how fast they could move. Still, she really hoped the parked car meant Had was home.

And then once on the front porch, hand poised to knock, she suddenly didn't.

"What am I _doin_'?" she hissed to herself, realized how stupid this rash plan was. Who said Had even wanted to see her again after how mean she'd been to him, especially when she'd formed a plan on the way here and needed a favor instead of a friendly visit.

Just as she was about to tuck tail and run, the front door opened.

Had stood on the other side, dressed only in a cotton t-shirt and dark jeans. He'd cut his hair since she'd last seen him, short, the sideburns shaved down. She found herself wondering if a vampire's hair still grew, considering they were dead and didn't have any cells regenerating to grow it back, right?

She realized she was staring then, when Had cleared his throat and asked, "What are you doing here, Percy?"

"I need your help," she said, wanted to smack herself for being so rude. "Oh, stars, I'm sorry. I meant _hi_, how are you?"

"Shocked to see you," he said, leaning against the doorjamb; his shoulders blocked the low light coming from inside, and she realized not for the first time just how solid he was, how intimidating. But she wasn't intimidated- on the contrary, the butterflies were back. "What is it that you need help with?"

"I, um..." she shuffled her feet, hating standing here on his porch with him just staring at her in that dark way of his.

"I apologize," he said after a moment, sensing her unease. "I'm the one that's being rude now. Please, come in," he opened the door wide for her.

"Thank you," she said, stepping inside only to gasp in awe.

Apparently he hadn't just fixed the outside of the house, but the inside too. The entry foyer faced stairs leading to the second floor, an arch leading to the back of the house beneath them. On her left she remembered there being a parlour, on her right a lavish living room. But they'd been dusty and tattered when old widow Chthonic had lived here, getting grimy no matter how much Demi tried to scrub the wear away.

Now there wasn't a trace of dust. Everything was clean and beautiful; Had'd even gotten the old crystal chandelier in the foyer to work again though the town electrician had long ago called it a lost cause.

"You made this place come back to life," Percy mused aloud.

"You've been here before?" Had asked, once he'd closed the door and turned to face her.

"My momma used to clean for old lady Chthonic," Percy shrugged.

"Awe yes, Cha mentioned a cleaning lady and her young daughter when I last spoke to her a few years back."

"You knew her?" Percy asked.

Had nodded. "Her son worked for me when I first started the business. He passed away before her- ripe age of seventy-five. Since she had no living heirs, she left the house to me. Wanted me to restore it to its original glory."

"You really did," Percy grinned.

"Thank you," he said.

"You're welcome," she answered softly.

For a moment they simply looked at each other, the butterflies in her stomach doing flip-flops.

"Please," he said then, broke the connection by looking away towards the living room. "Come sit. You must be tired from work and everything happening with your brother."

"You know?" Percy asked as he escorted her to a plush, red couch and watched her sit.

"It's all this town talks about," he admitted, stood there another moment and then asked if she'd like something to drink. "I have bottled water for guests. Stronger tonics too, if you'd like that?"

"Water's good," she said, let out a little squeak as he suddenly vanished and reappeared with a cold water bottle, snapping the top off for her. "Oh my stars! I was serious when I asked you not to do that."

"Sorry," he smirked, and she knew he wasn't sorry at all.

She rolled her eyes as she took the water from him, gulping half of it in a go, not having realized how thirsty her nerves had made her. When she was done she let out a heavy breath and settled the bottle in her lap. Had was still staring at her, blinked and shook his head when she met his gaze and sat down on the lip of the coffee table across from the couch she was seated on, his knees stretching out and nearly touching hers.

"So, this favor of yours?" he asked then and she frowned, remembering she'd come here more so for business than pleasure (at least that's what she'd told herself in the car after she'd started driving this way).

She swallowed down her nerves, looked up at him through her lashes shyly. "The two women they think Plute killed- both of them were involved with vampires." For his part, Had didn't seem phased by the comment, and so Percy went on. "One of them, Dite, she met the vampire at a club in Olympus called-"

"Tartarus," Had interrupted for her, his lips pinching together.

"How'd you know?" Percy asked.

"Most humans go there to meet us," he said. "But it's bad news, Percy. There are vampires there like the ones we encountered the other night."

She paled, looked down at her hands and remembered Nyx's hands on her, the shine of her teeth in cheap florescents. _You're being childish_, she quickly chastized herself in second thought. It didn't matter that that news frightened her; if she could find any kind information to help clear Plute's name by going to this place, then she had to try. "I need to go there," she said. "I have to do _something_. This is killing my mother, Had. I can smell it on her. Plute and I are all she has left, and she can't lose one of us or _I'll_ lose her."

Had considered her words for a moment, staring at her intently and seeing the resolve in her eyes before he sighed and took a cell phone out of his back pocket, dialing in a number quickly. Someone answered right away, and the conversation that ensued was so fast it made Percy's head hurt to listen, and she didn't catch a word of it anyways. Then, as suddenly as he'd made the call, Had hung up.

"We have a reservation tomorrow," he said.

"Really?" she asked, eyes wide.

"You don't have other plans, do you?" he asked.

"No," she shook her head.

He leaned forwards then, setting both of his long, sharp hands on either side of her face; her breath and heart raced. "We have to be very careful if we're to do this, Percy. Vampires don't like humans questioning them, especially about illegal things like murder. We're trying to make a good image with the humans, and one of them accusing us of killing two women is very offensive."

"I promise I'll be tactful," she said. "All I want to do is ask if they saw Dite or Helen there, if they went home with anyone."

"Alright," Had said, but he didn't let go of her. She thought for a moment he may kiss her, _wanted_ him to kiss her, yet he pulled away soon after the thought had crossed her mind and she found herself filled with disappointment. "You should get home and rest," he said.

He walked her out to her car, hung in the open door much like Heph had earlier. Unlike with Heph though, Percy wouldn't have minded if Had tried to steal a kiss. He still didn't. "Thank you," she told him as she started the engine. "I don't know how to repay you for this."

"You talking to me is enough," he said, and she balked. He smiled softly. "I tried staying away because I knew you wanted me to, Percy. But like I told you that second night, it seems I'm practically incapable of it. Are you sure you're not a witch and you haven't casted a spell on me?"

"I'm sure," she whispered.

His smile turned into a smirk. "You truly are magic, Percy Hagne."

He shut the car door then, watched her pull out of the drive with a small wave goodbye. She drove home on cloud nine, and didn't try to deny it to herself one bit.

* * *

"And just where are _y_o_u_ going?" Demi asked that following night, Percy trotting down the stairs in her best party dress and high-heels, hair all done up in pretty braids and make-up flawless.

"Out with Arty," she lied, knowing the excuse was sound as she'd called the girl not fifteen minutes ago and begged for her to tell Demi they were together if the ailing woman got suspicious and called Percy's friend for reassurances.

"You're going out with that vampire again, aren't you?" Arty had asked, worry apparent in her smoky, feminine voice.

"Not in the way you think," Percy had said, dabbing off excess lipstick with a piece of toilet paper. "He's helping me find evidence to prove Plute is innocent."

"...Okay," Arty had said eventually. "Just...be careful, Percy."

It seemed like everyone was telling her that nowadays.

"Oh, well doesn't that sound nice," Demi said, her tone pleasantly shocked.

Percy gave her mother the same fake grin she always used at work. "Yeah. But I gotta go- I'm supposed to meet her at Apostle's and then we're gonna bar hop from there."

"Be careful!" Demi called just as she was heading out the door.

Percy rolled her eyes so hard it hurt.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later and she was pulling into Had's drive; he'd called her right before she'd called Arty, and she'd been shocked he had her number, had no idea how he'd gotten it. If she was a witch, then he was a wizard.

"You can come to my house and I'll drive us from there," he'd said. "It'll seem less suspicious to your mother." She'd also silently questioned how he'd known she hadn't wanted to tell her mom, but kept it to herself and said that was fine before hanging up.

Had was waiting on the front porch when she parked, and in a flash he was there opening the door for her after she'd turned off the ignition. "I think you get a kick out of scaring me," she said, hand clasped over her now rapidly beating heart.

He smiled. "A little."

She stepped out of the car then, didn't miss the way his eyes widened at the sight of her. The dress she was wearing was more revealing than the one she'd put on for their date- it was deep red in color, bringing out the tan of her skin. The top was cut low and the bottom cut short; her heels added the illusion of extra length to her legs, and she'd pulled her hair off her neck with the braids since it was so humid out tonight.

"You should change," Had blurted suddenly, and she looked down at her body self-consciously. "Oh- no, I didn't mean it like that," he tried to defend, tilting her chin up so she'd look at him. "You look positively _delicious_-" she blushed- "and that's the problem."

"Why?" she asked, genuinely confused. They were going to an apparently high-in vampire club (she'd looked it up on the internet this morning, the ratings and reviews off the charts) and so she'd thought this was the appropriate sort of attire to blend in.

"You look like vampire bait," Had said.

Percy began to laugh at that. "_What_?"

"I can see every line of your neck," Had whispered, his eyes growing even darker, if possible, as his fingers left her chin to stroke over her pulse; she shivered. "And your chest is..." he trailed off, fingertips dangerously close to her cleavage. "And your _legs_," he said, licking his lips hungrily as he looked down at said appendages.

That one caught her up short- she knew she had nice calves from running a few miles a week, but her thighs were still very round, toned underneath but plush atop. Most men always complimented her ass or her tits, never her legs. It felt kind of...nice to know that Had liked them.

"I've got a cardigan with me," she said after a moment, his gaze drawing leisurely back up to hers. She widened her eyes at him for an answer and that seemed to break whatever spell he'd been under, his hand quickly falling away from her as he took a step back and cleared his throat. She immeadiately missed the contact.

"You should probably wear it," he said.

"Okay," she murmured, turned to pull it out of the car and grumbled under her breath. "Gonna be sweating like hell and with their senses I'm going to smell awful."

"Not quite," Had said from behind her, and she stilled in her reaching to blush, embarrassed he'd heard her. "We can smell sweat intensely, yes, but the smell of a mortal's blood always overrides that."

"Well, I guess that's...good," Percy said lamely as she straightened up, trying to look down and hide the flush to her skin.

"We can especially smell it when you're blushing like that," Had said, and she groaned, burying her face in her hands.

"We're so screwed," she whined.

"No," Had assured her, setting a cold hand on her shoulder; it felt good in the stifling heat of the night air. "Just stay by me, and we'll be alright."

And 'cause, for some irrational reason, she felt safe with this vampire she barely knew, Percy whispered, "Okay."

* * *

They didn't say much on the drive to Tartarus, simply reviewed what Percy was going to ask about the murders once they got there. If she made a mistake in her wording and came off as what vampires considered offensive, Had gently corrected her and they started over. By the time they reached the club, Percy felt decently confident she wasn't going to get herself drained to death by an angry undead person.

Had parked the car down the street from the club, opened her door inhumanly fast for her and ignored Percy's glare as he helped her put her cardigan on. Immediately, she started sweating.

They walked together arm-in-arm up to Tartarus' entrance, Percy's nerves acting up as she saw how dangerous this place looked. Red everything, hundreds of hungry vampires and antsy humans waiting in line out front. But Had didn't both to get at the end of the queue, simply walked up to the bouncer who gave him a solid nod and let them in.

"You have connections with everyone," Percy accused teasingly.

"Not everyone," Had laughed, but she could tell by the slight shake in his voice that even he was nervous, too.

They went to the bar first, bodies gyrating all around them, blurring motions Percy couldn't catch on account of she was mortal. The bartender was obviously a vampire too, tall and intimidating with long, inky hair and battle scars.

"Evening, Pallas," Had said, and the bartender nodded at him the same as the bouncer had. "Can I get two drinks?"

"What will you have?" Pallas asked with a voice like gravel.

Had looked to Percy to go first and she sucked in a deep breath. "I'll have a whisky sour, please?"

"And I'll have an a-positive," Had input.

Pallas nodded again, turned to get their drinks lightning fast. When he handed them back, Had looked over to Percy and nodded an assurance. She took another deep breath, squared her shoulders and tried to slow her heart.

"Would you mind if I asked you a few questions, Pallas?" Percy asked, and the vampire raised a dark brow at her. "It'll just be real quick." She pulled her purse around from her side and dug out the two pictures of Dite and Helen she'd clipped from the newspapers this morning. "Have you seen either of these two women here before?"

Pallas looked at Had before he looked at the photos, and Had gave him an encouraging tip of the chin. "This one," Pallas said, pointing to Dite. "I've seen her before. Not the other one."

"Do you know if she hung around with anyone specific?" Percy asked in regards to Dite.

"Bounced from guy to guy," Pallas said, eyeing Percy critically for her inquiry about other vampires; Had had told her that the moment that happened, she needed to move on.

"Alright, thanks. So much. You've helped a lot," Percy said, taking the pictures back.

She and Had turned to walk away, but Pallas spoke before they could. "That one wanted to die," he said, nodding to Dite's picture still in Percy's hands.

"What do you mean?" Percy asked.

"Every human who comes here does, in their own way," Pallas said, and the gaze he gave her made her skin crawl.

Had wrapped a protective arm around her middle. "Thanks, Pallas," he said, and directed Percy away from the bar.

They went to sit at one of the tables in the club, Percy downing half her drink nervously. Had reached over to take her hand, rubbing soothing circles like he had on their date so many weeks ago.

"You did fine," he whispered.

She bit her lip, glanced around the club to see if anyone else looked open to talking. But she froze mid-sweep, locking in on a man with his time ticking away. It was like a stopclock again, the numbers going down slowly, one by one.

"Percy?" Had asked, but she wasn't paying him any attention.

She followed the dying man's movements as he stepped up to a podium in the center of the club, a glorious, golden looking vampire sitting on a pseudo-throne there. _So beautiful,_ the man was thinking. _I have to offer myself to him. I can't stand it, I have to touch him..._

As quickly as the man stepped up to the vampire on the throne though, he was kicked across the room. Percy cried out, cupping a hand over her mouth as she realized his numbers didn't suddenly blot out like she'd thought they would. He was hurt though, blood dripping from a cut on his head and hungry vampires swarming.

"Percy!"

She looked back to Had, hands still over her mouth.

"Are you alright?" Had asked.

She let her hands drop and exhaled shakily, nodding her head. When she looked back the dying man was gone, but she could still feel his numbers dying in tune to her pulse. She had the urge to get up then and find him, _help _him, was about to do just that when Had grabbed her hand and shook his head, expression solemn.

"No, don't," Had whispered. "I'm so sorry, Percy- I didn't plan on this happening."

"What happening?" Percy asked, renewed fear in her veins.

"You've caught Prometheus' attention," Had said, and the way he said it made the words sound like a death sentence.

"Who's?" Percy asked anxiously, and Had nodded to the golden vampire on the throne, who was staring directly at her. "Who is he?" Percy asked, ice creeping over her spine from the intensity of the vampire's gaze.

"The owner of this club. And very old, older than me," Had said, standing up tall as suddenly there was a lithe, pale-skinned female vampire at their table. "Theia," Had greeted, and Percy stood then with a small, nervous wave of greeting to the woman.

"Hello, Hades," Theia said, then focused almond-shaped eyes on Percy. "Who's your _friend_?" The tone Theia said the last word in made Percy blush, as did her next comment. "She's simply _de_le_c_t_abl_e. _And_ she swings my way as well as yours, how lovely."

Percy flushed even more as she realized what the woman meant, jumped a little as Had set an almost possessive hand on her waist. "I assume Pro wants to see us, then," Had said, cutting the greeting short.

"Yes," Theia answered, an almost bored looking expression passing over her face. "So let's not waste anymore time, shall we."

They all walked to the throne then, and Percy could see just how golden the vampire really was. He looked tall, taller than even Had possibly. His skin was like the sun despite his being undead, and his hair just a shade darker. Even his eyes were gold. He had the lean muscles of a fighter, a sharp jaw and Greek nose. He _was_ mesmerizing, Percy had to admit, but after seeing what he'd done to that poor, dying man, she didn't really like him.

"Hades," Pro greeted smoothly, his voice as golden as the rest of him. "Nice to see you, my friend. And who do you have here with you?"

"This is Percy," Had said, tightening his hold on her waist; she resisted the urge to squeak when it began to hurt a little.

"_Percy_," Pro purred, making her shiver, and not in a good way. "Is that short for anything?"

"Persephone," Percy murmured, swallowed nervously when Pro flashed his fangs in a delighted smile.

"Queen of darkness," Pro said, gold eyes alight. "How ironic." Percy blushed, sweating under her cardigan as felt like he was making fun of her. "Please," Pro said, finally satisfied with how uncomfortable he'd made her feel. "Sit."

Had and Percy took chairs across from Pro's after a second's hesitation, Theia leaning against the arm of Pro's throne leisurely.

"What brings you here tonight, Percy?" Pro asked once she was settled, talking to her as if Had wasn't even there.

She glanced to her ignored partner, a secret question in her eyes; Had nodded cautiously.

Slowly, Percy pulled the photos back out of her purse where she'd stowed them away back at the table. Taking what felt like her millionth deep breath of the night, she held the pictures out to Pro. "Have you seen either of these two women in here before?" she asked.

"No the first," Pro said in regards to Helen. "But this one," he pointed to Dite, "she offered herself to me and I tasted her."

"Okay," Percy said, feeling her stomach roll at the thought of it. She remembered that poor, dying man then, and suddenly her senses were back onto him. His time was nearly up, but she couldn't tell how, not yet. "Did she hang around with anyone else here?"

"A few," Pro said, then leaned forwards in his chair curiously. "Why do you ask, Percy? What's this about?"

"These women were found murdered recently," Percy said. "The cops are blaming my brother on account he was, well, _intimate_-" Theia grinned like a cheshire at the innocent way Percy murmured the word- "with both of them. But he didn't kill them, and I heard that Dite- the one you recognize- used to come here before she died, and wanted to see if I could find any evidence to help clear my brother."

"You'd be making a serious charge against our kind if you thought you'd found the killer, Percy," Pro said, danger and threat in his voice.

Percy trembled under his stare, registered a warm hand on the small of her back within the next moment; Had began pressing soft, soothing circles into her skin then like he had with her hand. She regained her courage. "I understand, sir. Please know though that I believe it could have been a vampire as much as I believe it could have been a mortal. I just know it _wasn't_ my brother."

"I see," Pro said, licking his teeth thoughtfully.

Percy was about to ask him if he knew anything else when a sharp, intense pain pried into her head. _Yes, do it,_ the dying man thought, and Percy caught an image of a female vampire biting into his neck. _Bite me, drain me. What's the point?!_

"Oh God," she said, standing up suddenly. "You have to hurry!" She couldn't keep the words from coming out. Even though she could feel that the man wanted to die, she couldn't just sit back and let him. She had the tools to save him, and despite her better instinct, her body made her use them. "That man, the one that you kicked away earlier, there's a vampire in the bathroom draining him!"

"How do you know?" Pro asked, expression turning solemn.

"Please, I just _do_," Percy insisted. "He's going to die! Please, _please_!" She looked straight into Pro's eyes, knowing he could stop it. The golden vampire must have found something there, for he smiled wide before simply snapping his fingers, Theia disappearing at the sound.

She came back in the blink of an eye, throwing the female vampire Percy had seen through the dying man's thoughts onto the floor. The vampire looked strong, covered in fresh blood and hissing curses out at Theia for messing up her hair and her meal when she'd pulled her off the dying man.

"Somehow, the girl was right," Theia said, eyeing Percy suspiciously. "The man'll live if he gets to a hospital. Pallas!" The bartender looked up, a silent conversation passing between him and Theia before he vanished, Percy catching just the tailend of him carrying out the dying man less than a second later.

"What are you going to do with _me_?" the female vampire on the ground growled then, bearing her fangs.

For his part, Pro didn't answer her at first- he was too busy staring in awe at Percy as he had been since Theia had confirmed the girl's theory. Finally he broke the gaze and went back to business as he turned to the female vampire on the ground, saying very calmly, "Get out and don't come back or I will lead you to the one true death myself."

The female bared her teeth even more at that. "Centurion cunt!" she snarled at him.

Pro's illusion of calm broke at that. He practically roared at her, picking her up by her fiery red hair and flinging her onto one of the tables in the club. He went after her then, screaming and spitting and all of the humans in the bar started to panic, the vampires leaning back leisurely and enjoying the show.

Percy stumbled back from all the chaos, fell into Had's chest. He caught her by the arms and began pulling her away from the melee. When she looked up at him she could see the worry in his eyes.

"You shouldn't have said anything about the man," he whispered, pulling her through the hollering crowd towards the front doors; both Pro and now Theia were occupied enough beating up the female vampire not to notice when Percy and Had poured out with the human half of the club, rushing down the street towards his car. "I saw the way Pro was looking at you for it. He was intrigued before, but now he's invested. And once Pro is invested, there isn't any getting around it."

"What's he going to do to me?" Percy asked as Had opened her door and got her in quickly, moved to the driver's seat within a millisecond's time.

"I don't know," Had said, starting the car and pulling away from the curb with a squeal of tires. "He won't hurt you- he's curious, and he's going to try and see you again."

"Why?" Percy asked, mystified as to why someone as ethereal as Pro would want to waste his time on her, psychic or not.

"Like I mentioned earlier, Percy, he's very old. Which means he likes new things. I've never heard of someone with your gifts before, and I'm guessing he hasn't either," Had sighed, turning onto the highway exit that would take them back to Eleusinian.

"But what could he do with it? Besides preventing him from having a dead body tonight, my abilities are pretty much useless," Percy insisted, feeling suddenly so overheated she might faint. She ripped off her cardigan, wadded it up in a ball and threw it in the footwell just as Had rolled down her window for her. She stuck her head out of it and breathed in the fresh air, putting a hand to her chest and trying to slow her rapid heart rate.

"A man like Pro will find some use for it," Had said after she'd ducked her face back into the car, noticed that she was shaking violently and quickly reached for her hand, folding it up in his own. "But hey, it'll be okay. I'll protect you. I promise."

* * *

They made what should have been an hour's drive back to Had's house in twenty minutes, luckily with no cops this time.

Percy got out of the car numbly after Had had opened her door for her, not judging the situation well enough 'cause as soon as she stood, her knees buckled. He caught her easily, scooped her up bridal style and before she knew it, they were in his living room and he was setting her gently on the couch, back with an uncapped bottle of water without her even blinking.

"Thank you," Percy murmured, taking it in shaking hands. She sipped at it and thought about what all had just happened for a couple of minutes, then sighed as she realized something very, very upsetting. "We barely got any information out of tonight except that Dite was there. I'm sorry I wasted your time."

"I don't care about my time, I have plenty," Had said, sitting on the coffee table across from her like he had last night. "I care about your safety, which I jeopardized by bringing you there and letting Pro see you."

"No, I did that," Percy said, not wanting Had to blame himself for her mistake. "Had I kept quiet about that man, it would have been fine. But I couldn't...I _couldn't_ just let him die."

"You saved him, Percy," Had said, exchanging the water bottle from her hands with his own sharp fingers. "You're very brave, but also very foolish about how you use your courage,"" he laughed.

She couldn't help but laugh a lit'le too. "I guess I am."

Their mirth quelled off after a moment though, Had looking down at her hands in his tiredly. "Percy," he said, his voice so full of emotion then that it made her body stop shaking, made her bones melt. "I have to tell you that it wouldn't have mattered had you shown him your gifts or not tonight. I was foolish in thinking he would see you and not want you."

"Not want me?" she asked.

"Yes," Had said, looking her straight in the eye as he explained, "You're so very unique, Percy. You have this aura about you, natural and earthy, hard to pull away from. Not to mention you're beautiful."

"I'm really not," she said to him, shaking her head.

"But you _are_," Had insisted, smiling at her with honesty in his eyes. "Maybe not in the way today's society judges beauty, but in a more timeless way. For men like Pro and I who didn't grow up brainwashed by social media, you're like a goddess." Percy gaped, didn't know how to take that one in and Had chuckled at her astonishment. "You really don't see it, do you? The pull you have on people..."

"I'm just a waitress," Percy whispered desperately.

"But you're much more, Percy," Had said, squeezing her hands in his. "It's evident in your blood. I'm sure you could ask any vampire and they'd say the same- that they'd never smelled any blood like yours. Not just because you're a virgin, either. That adds to the allure, I'm sure, but there's something else. I don't know if it has to do with you being psychic or what, but your blood practically _sings_ it's so alive."

"So he was wants to claim me as..." she didn't know what the right words for it were.

"As his own," Had supplied. "He wants to claim you as his, so that he can have any part of you he wants whenever he wants."

"But I thought I was yours," Percy whispered, and the little exhale of breath Had gave at the words made her shiver all over again, but not in a bad way.

"Not fully," Had said softly after regaining his nerve. "I've given you my blood, yes, but I haven't actually fed from you. I haven't _claimed _you."

"You mean you haven't bitten me?" Percy asked, exhaling softly as she suddenly realized that she maybe...wanted? him to.

"Yes," Had said, his Adam's apple bobbing as he swallowed thickly. "And since you have said you no longer wish for us to..._date_, then I won't. I wouldn't have anyways, not without your permission."

"But you would, if I said yes?" Percy asked, looking at him with wide, wanting eyes.

"_Yes_," Had said, his voice conveying so many more words than that.

"Then I want you to," she said, before she could think better of it and back out. "I did mean it when I said that this is all a lot for me, Had. And that we don't really know each other. But somethin' in me, something I can't name, it makes me think of you all the time. Makes me _want_ you all the time."

He groaned at that, set his forehead against their entwined hands. "Percy, you don't know what you're asking."

"Yes, I do," Percy, said, disentangling one of her own hands so she could lift up his chin and hold his gaze. She leaned forwards after a moment, touching her lips to his softly. Her body thrummed at the contact, heart hammering in her chest, and she knew she wouldn't regret it when she said, "Had, make me yours."


	4. Bloody Well Knew

**A/N:** This chapter is extremely M rated for adult themes. Nothing but shameful, fluffy smut folks. And a twist at the end. What can I say, sex and violence always go hand-in-hand for me, heh.

* * *

_She leaned forwards after a moment, touching her lips to his softly. Her body thrummed at the contact, heart hammering in her chest, and she knew she wouldn't regret it when she said, "Had, make me yours."_

* * *

For a minute, she just sat there looking at him, waiting for something, _anything_. She expected him to be angry at first. Angry that she was acting like a flippant little girl, saying she didn't want him one minute and did the next. And then she thought that maybe he'd just kiss her, with how he was staring at her the way he was, all dark eyes and raging emotion.

What she wasn't able to imagine though was what he actually did, which was tell her, "Not yet, Percy. Not yet."

She blinked, pulled away from him quickly and blinked again, and again, and again. "Not yet?" she questioned, confusion apparent.

"I don't want you to rush into this, Percy," he said, and when her face fell he was quick to clarify. "I still want to see you, I want to make you mine in that sense, of course I do. But you're scared right now, and you have so much else going on in your life. Take a week or two to think about it, please? I'll make sure Pro doesn't bug you between now and then, I promise. Just, for now, make sure that's what you really want. Because I have to tell you, that if I have you, I won't be apt to let go."

She considered his words for a moment, realized he was probably right that she should think her offer over with how susceptible to rash decisions she was. "Okay," she said. "But I think you should know- last night Heph, my boss, he asked me on a date. And since I'd thought we were uh, well, kind of broken up, I said yes."

"Oh," Had said, his expression going blank.

"I don't know if I like him though," Percy wanted to explain. "I just didn't want to disappoint him by saying no."

"Oh," Had said again, then turned thoughtful for a few minutes. "I guess it's a good thing," he said eventually. "It'll help you decide you're not making a mistake with me."

She nodded, knowing that's what he needed her to do right now. He walked her out to her car so she could drive home then, turned her around before she could get in once the door was open. She expected him just to say goodbye, but he kissed her, long and hard and pressed her up against the edge of the doorframe.

"Goodnight," he said, after pulling away eventually, his eyes flaring in the porchlight. "I promise I'll make sure you're safe."

She smiled, got in the car and drove home to tip-toe up the stairs, her mother having already gone to bed long ago.

* * *

The next day Heph explained the play was that Friday night. She gave him her best grin and said she was looking forwards to it. So that week she walked around in a bit of a fog, never seeing Had though knowing he was around, keeping an eye out for her.

Plute got out of jail that Tuesday, Themi and Mia no longer able to keep him 'cause the lawyer Demi had hired for Plute got on their asses about holding him with inconclusive evidence. He came to Apostle's for a drink, and Percy could tell that something inside of him had broken by just how quiet he was.

"I'm startin' to wonder if I didn't really do it, Perc," he said to her when she asked him what was wrong. "I don't remember doing it, but I wonder if that's because I just don't wanna have done it."

"You didn't do it," she tried to tell him with conviction. "Dite and Helen, they hung around with some very dangerous vampires, Plute."

"I know that," Plute said, which shocked her. "I kinda wondered if maybe that had somethin' to do with them dying, but the cops wouldn't listen. They're dead-set it was me."

Percy mulled over his words for a while, and when Mia Moth came wandering in to question her about Plute and his relations with the women the next morning, she all but sassed the deputy out of the bar.

* * *

By the time Friday night rolled around, Percy was tired from all the drama in her life and considered calling Heph to say she wasn't in the mood to go out. But she'd told both Heph and Had she would, and she wasn't a girl to go back on her word. So she got ready and put on a nice skirt and a pretty blouse, did her hair and make-up. Demi had known about the date since Sunday, and while Percy could tell her mother still didn't want her dating _anyone_ (not just a vampire) the woman was in much higher spirits over Plute's release and didn't question Percy as she went out to meet Heph at his car.

They didn't talk much on the way to the play, just little things about the bar and their lives, but the rest was silence. And not the comfortable silence Percy often found herself having with Had, but an awkward one instead.

The play was nice, about a king who turned everything he touched into gold. Percy found herself sympathizing for Midas' daughter, who feared her father but also didn't want to leave him because she loved him.

Afterwards, Heph took them somewhere for coffee. They shared a slice of key-lime pie and bantered about who got the last bite. But eventually the easy atmosphere got shrill when Heph said, "Have you talked to that vampire much, lately?"

"His name is Had," Percy snapped, bit her tongue and looked down at the crumbs on the plate between them. "And no, I haven't seen him for a bit."

"That's probably well enough," Heph said. "You ain't got a future with him."

Heph paid the bill then and they went back out to his pick-up. "I had a nice time tonight," he said before either one of them could get into the cab.

"I did too," Percy said, 'cause even though he'd irked her with his earlier comments about Had, it had been a fairly good evening. She liked spending time with Heph, just not in the way he liked spending time with her, she reckoned.

"I'm glad," Heph said, getting real close to her, and before she could think anything about it, he was kissing her.

It was a soft kiss, one she thought would be over and done with quick, but Heph kind of just lingered. She felt herself not so glad about it- while the kiss was decent and heartfelt, she didn't feel nearly as much from it as she did when Had kissed her. Heph seemed to sense that, stepped back with a sigh.

"It's him, isn't it?" he asked.

"I'm sorry, Heph," Percy said, 'cause she _was _sorry that all these complicated things always happened to her and she couldn't just have something normal with a human man who seemed to really care for her.

"It ain't right, Percy," Heph said then, shocking her. "He's _dead_, Percy. You ain't going to go nowhere with him!"

"How do you know I'd go anywhere with a human?" she grit through her teeth. "It shouldn't concern you who I spend my time with."

"But it does concern me!" Heph all but shouted. "Percy, I like you. Have for a real long time now, and I don't wanna see you getting hurt!"

"Well then why didn't you say anything before you had competition about it?!" she asked, knowing he was only doing all of this now 'cause it was too late, and that kind of made her feel a bit used in a way. "You can't just wait to say that kind of stuff until there's a queue, or it doesn't really matter!"

Heph cursed, hit the side of the truck next to her and that sobered her up through her anger. "I think I'm gonna call a cab," she said, and skirted around him real quick.

"Percy!" he called. "Percy, get in the truck!"

"No!" she shouted, went back into the cafe and slammed the door behind her. She heard Heph curse again, before he climbed in his truck and pulled away.

She did call a cab then, but halfway back to Eleusinian she told the driver to switch destinations. They pulled up in front of the old Chthonic house twenty minutes later, and Percy paid the driver before getting out and slowly moving up the front porch. Had answered the door after the first knock.

"I thought about it," she said to him, brushing past to go inside. He shut the door and turned to face her, brow raised. She squared her shoulders resolutely, looked him in the eye as she said, "I haven't changed my mind."

Had said nothing for a moment, leaned back against the door with his arms crossed over his chest. "And you're sure of that?"

"Yes," Percy said. "Absolutely."

"What about your date?" Had asked, and she didn't miss the jealous edge to his voice.

"It went terribly," Percy said, waving her arms out at her sides with a careless edge. "He kissed me-" Had sucked in a deep breath at that- "but I didn't feel nearly as much from it as I do when you kiss me."

Had exhaled loudly in relief, but contradicted himself by saying, "Percy, I just want to know that you really want this-"

"I do," she interrupted, stepping up and clearing the distance between them, moving on her tip-toes so she could touch the sides of his face tenderly. "I really, really do."

He simply kept looking at her in reply, his gaze searching her own like he still didn't believe her. With a small sound of impatience, she hopped up and kissed him. He caught her immediately, grunted when she pressed her lips demandingly to his. But unfortunately he didn't react at first, so she pulled away and pressed her forehead to his, pecking him softly once more before she murmured, "Make me yours, _Hades_."

The way she said his full name seemed to make something inside of him snap. A low groan came from his throat after she'd said it and he tightened his grip around her, kissed her brutally. She smiled against his mouth, moved her arms to wrap across his shoulders as the kiss intensified, his tongue swiping against her lower lip and begging entrance. She let him, gasping at the contact and how impassioned it was.

They had a real nice time of making out a few minutes too, but eventually his tongue gained a steady rythym, one that even in her inexperience she could understand. "Now," she said around his mouth, voice trembling. He got the meaning of it immediately, twisted her in his arms so that she was suddenly held bridal style. In a flash they were up the stairs, inside of what she guessed to be the master bedroom, the door slamming shut behind them.

He laid her out on the bed, gave her a second to get used to it before he climbed on with her. The room was nice, she found herself thinking distractedly for a split second. Large with a big, white bed in the middle, dark blue walls and oak furniture. All the curtains were closed. She could only think these things for a moment though, 'cause right after she'd settled, Had was on her again.

His torso twisted over hers from where he lay on his side next to her on the bed, one hand grabbing at the outside of her thigh to bring it towards his hip while the other held her head steady so he could kiss her again. He didn't try and bite her yet though, just kept kissing her and kissing her and kissing her.

She'd felt a heavy heat pooling in her stomach since the start, but now when Had's hand on her thigh slid up, coming dangerously close to touching her backside, the heat intensified. She wanted him to touch her everywhere, she realized, faltered in their kisses from the thought- Had took this as an opportunity to trail his lips down her neck, towards the point of her pulse.

She thought maybe he would bite her now, but instead he began sucking on the skin, only slightly nipping with his teeth before soothing the sting with his tongue. A small moan escaped her lips from the feeling of it, hips bucking up against the side of his leg of their own accord. Had stilled for a moment then, pulled back and looked her in the eyes, found her flushed and panting. "Do you want more, Percy?" he asked, his eyes so, so dark and voice barely above a growl.

She was so heavy-headed she didn't quite get what he meant in that moment. "What?" she asked eventually, figuring it was better to get clarification than to just assume.

"You're very aroused," Had told her then, making her blush bright red from the comment, even though it was hopelessly true. He smiled, running his thumb down the line of her cheek softly. "I can help you with that."

"But what about..." she trailed off, too shy about asking her question aloud now that they were in the position for the answer.

Had's smile slowly turned into a smirk. He leaned forwards, mouth next to her ear as he said, "It'll be so much better if I bite you right before I get you to come." She whimpered as he scraped his teeth against her earlobe after the comment, body moving over hers completely. On instinct, she let her knees fall open so he could fit between her legs. And it was then that she could feel just how aroused he was too, the hardness of him pressing against the inside of thigh.

"Oh," she said softly in realization of what he'd meant when he'd asked if she wanted more. And she _did_ want more, wanted whatever else he was offering her besides drinking her blood. She just didn't know how to say it. "I haven't- I don't know what to do..." she confessed, looking up at him shyly.

His expression turned soft at that, and he leaned forwards to kiss her lips just the slightest before saying, "I'll help you figure it out." He slowly reached for the buttons on her blouse then, beginning to undo them one-by-one.

"Are we going to have _sex_-sex?" she asked, just as he pulled her up a little to help get her arms out of the sleeves of the garment.

"We don't have to," Had said, stilling his movements, rubbing soothing circles in the tops of her arms now that they were bare besides the straps of her bra pressing into her shoulders.

She considered his words for a moment, realized that maybe she wasn't ready for the exact thing yet, but she was desperately aroused, could feel the throb of it pulsing between her thighs. She'd touched herself before, of course, knew that getting off was the only thing that could remedy the feeling. But no one else had ever made her climax, and she was afraid she'd embarrass herself and not be able to do it right, might displease him.

"Can we work our way up to actual sex?" she asked quietly, biting her lip.

"Of course," he whispered. "I understand that you're not ready for that yet. Would you rather not do anything?"

"No!" she said very quickly, flushed even brighter at the way he smiled affectionately at her for it. "I mean- I do want you to- to..." she trailed off again, looking up at him with a silent plea in her eyes.

"Percy," he said, very warmly and full of tenderness. "How about I start with something simple, and you tell me if you like that or not?"

"Okay," she said, and then couldn't help but ask, "But wh-when are you going to bite me...?"

"In due time, love," he said, the nickname rolling off of his tongue like honey; she shivered. "Like I said, it'll feel so much better if I do it before I get you to come. And I _will_ get you to come, Percy. I've been craving you nearly since I first met you."

"Really?" she asked, astounded he'd liked her that long.

"Of course," he said, kissing her hard and deep again. "I meant it when I said you've bewitched me, Percy Hagne. And I don't mind it one bit."

She smiled, leaned up for another kiss and he happily obliged her. The kisses turned harsh after a few moments though, her lips slick with spit and her tongue tangling with his, natural to the rhythm. She'd kissed before, but never like this, not with anyone but him. And it was wonderful.

Demandingly, she started pulling his shirt off and he helped her. She sighed happily with the press of his bare skin against her, ran her fingers softly down his front and teased at the fly to his jeans. Had growled, took his hand in hers and pressed it down into the mattress. "This'll be over way too quickly if you try that," he said, making the heat in her stomach coil.

He moved down to kiss at her neck again, teeth scraping over her collarbone as his lips kept going down, down, down. "Oh," she said, when she felt him mouthing at her left nipple through the thin cotton of her bra- she'd worn a pretty, silky one that she usually did for dates just to give herself confidence, and now she was all the more happy about it because she could feel the dullest points of his teeth dragging on the now stiff peak of her breast, back arching up to meet him.

"Can I take this off?" he asked lowly, barely waiting for her nod before the garment was all but torn from her.

She full-out moaned when he brought his mouth back to her breast, laving at the skin with his tongue and sucking and, "Oh my _stars_," she gasped as his hand began palming her other breast, the sensations unfathomable.

He chuckled, switched his position to give her right nipple the same attention with his mouth as he had for the left. Then she felt his fangs pierce the skin a little, tongue drawing up the blood. Had was the one who moaned this time, while all Percy could do was writhe in need below him.

But soon the ache between her legs became unbearable and she was begging, "Please, please _please_," and she didn't even have to explain why she was asking please before Had was moving lower, mouthing at her sternum, the soft roundness of her stomach as he pulled her skirt down her legs.

She whimpered when he placed his head between the plushness of her thighs, breathing against the damp cotton of her underwear and making her all the more desperate for his tongue. Suddenly his tongue swept over her, one long drag against the fabric and she keened, turning her face into the pillow.

"Gods, you smell amazing," Had purred, didn't waste any time in pulling her underwear down until they tangled around one of her ankles, pried her thighs wide open and then there was nothing between his mouth and her.

Percy stuttered a breath then, looking down at him shyly. No one had ever seen her like this before, naked and vulnerable and completely wanting. "Had..." she whispered, his dark eyes flashing up to meet hers.

"You're beautiful, Percy," he assured her, the honesty in his voice making all the muscles in her body relax. "Let me taste you?"

For a moment she did nothing, then couldn't stand the waiting anymore and nodded. He flashed her a warm, caring smile before hitching one of her knees over his shoulder, breathing against her again and then the flat of his tongue was swiping down the length of her, nose nuzzling in the curls above her sex as he hummed at the pure taste of her. And then he was kissing at where the ache was most centered, wrapping his lips around her clit and _sucking_ like he had to her breast just moments earlier.

"Oh, _fuck_," she said before she could stop herself, felt more than heard him chuckle as he swiped the flat of his tongue against her, dulling the sharp, pleasuring sting his last motions had caused.

Her hips bucked at the next swipe of his tongue, but he gently put one of his hands on her belly and pressed her ass down into the mattress. "Easy, love," he said. "I'm going to take my time with you, eat you up."

She sputtered, flushing a dark red as he kissed at the insides of her thighs, bit into the skin and drew a bit more blood there, licking it away with a low groan. She threw her head back, breath coming in rapid exhales. He teased her like this for a while, kissing closer and closer to where she wanted him before drawing back with a smirk, biting her softly again but not enough to really be _biting_ her- he'd said he'd wait for that, but at the thought of how long he'd wait it kinda drove Percy crazy. It ached so bad and she wanted to just wedge her heel inbetween his shoulders and push, make him stop teasing.

Soon enough, she did just that.

Had outright laughed, moving with her insistence though he was much stronger than her and wouldn't have had to had he not wanted to. "So eager," he whispered, kissing along the outside of her sex and making her curse under her breath, biting into her lip again. "And yet you're so innocent-" he punctured the words by mouthing at her clit again, making her hiss- "I can't wait to change that."

It was then he pushed one long, thick finger into her and she absolutely whined from it, the sensation suddenly so filling and yet so not. She froze for a moment to adjust to the feeling, looking down at him with an open mouth and pupils blown wide in arousal.

"Is this okay?" he asked her, and she nodded so eagerly she thought she'd given herself whiplash for a moment.

"Good," he said, pumping his finger slowly, once, twice, before taking it out of her.

"Hey- no, don't stop," she said, sitting up a little when he did but Had gently pushed her to the bed again.

"Patience, love," he said.

Percy huffed, was about to tell him where he could stick his "patience" when suddenly his mouth was on her again, tongue lapping at her entrance. "Oh fuck, holy shit," she hissed as he plunged his tongue into her, swiping out and up over her clit quickly, not long enough for any lasting friction. "Had," she begged, wanting to smack him when she felt him smirk into the crook of her thigh, but then he quelled her anger by wrapping his lips around where she needed them most and sucking again, the pressure too much and she babbled a lit'le, the sound tapering off towards a moan as he slipped his finger quickly back into her, pumping in and out with long, thick strokes.

The sounds the whole act was making were obscene by this point, as was her constant cursing, but if anything it just fueled her need even more.

Had didn't wait long to curl a second finger into her after the first- she felt full when he did, her sex throbbing as he mouthed at her clit again, before broadly swiping his tongue over the spot. She sobbed, clutching at his hair as he pumped his fingers inside of her harder, adding a third digit after a moment. The way it stretched her kinda hurt, but in a pleasantly surprising way.

"Stars," she gasped, and Had chuckled again.

"You're just so wet for me Percy," he murmured, making her squirm in embarrassment at how blatant her need was in every way. "And Gods, your cunt tastes as good as your blood. I can't get enough of you."

Biting her lip, she raised up an arm and turned her head into the crook of it so she wouldn't have to hold his dark gaze, gasped when he moved up her body lighting quick, letting his fingers slip out of her so he could hold her chin and make her look at him. She missed the contact immediately, moaned as he held her gaze and bruised her mouth in a sloppy, wet kiss, letting her taste herself on his tongue.

"I want you to look at me, Percy," he growled, eyes so dark she couldn't tell the pupil from the iris. "I want to see you when I make you cum."

She exhaled shakily, nearly screamed when he moved back down her body just as quickly as he'd moved up, two fingers back inside of her suddenly, tongue on her clit. She writhed, tried to clamp her thighs shut but he forced them open with his shoulders, looked back up at her imploringly as he twisted his fingers inside her softly and made her whimper, hips thrusting up towards his mouth- he happily accepted the invitation. And she was so caught up in the euphoria of it she barely noticed him thumb probing at her back entrance until it softly began to slip in, wet enough from the rest of her that it didn't hurt, just felt surprisingly stimulating.

"Is this okay?" Had asked, looking up at her for an answer; his intensity from moments before had turned softer, the want still evident in his eyes, but there was concern too, a need for her to confirm he could.

She was too embarrassed about the whole thing to give an audible yes, just bit her lip and nodded as his thumb slipped fully in, pumping in time with the two fingers he had inside her sex, before the third joined them again.

"Fuck," she said, covering her face with a hand.

"_Persephone_," Had warned, the intensity from before back again as he bit at the inside of her thigh sharply, no fangs this time, just blunt, grating teeth.

She yelped, pulling her hand away and meeting his eyes breathlessly.

"You've got quite the mouth on you," he said, giving her clit another swipe with his tongue; she tried her best not to give him the satisfaction of moaning over it. "I can't wait to feel it around my cock- just like I can't wait to feel the rest of you." He punctuated the words with a twist of all his fingers, his thumb hitting something sensitive, making her keen again, bite into her lip so hard it drew blood. "God, you're so tight _everywhere_. Can't wait to fuck you open..."

She whimpered, clenching against his fingers and meeting his gaze as she flushed even redder, the room overwhelmingly hot despite the cold of Had's skin against hers.

"You like when I talk to you like that," Had smiled then, more of a statement than a question. "Who knew you had such a little temptress in you, Percy."

"You bloody well knew," she exhaled loudly, hot-headness getting the best of her as she tried her hardest not to whine when he sucked on her clit again, his fingers pumping faster.

"I did," he smirked, moving up to bite at the round swell of her lower tummy. "And I've been aching to bring it out."

"Stars," she said, writhing again as he forced her thighs open more with his body, mouthed his way up to her chest to take a nipple into his mouth and bite at it playfully.

"Gods, you make me insatiable," he said once he'd finally gotten to her mouth, kissing her maddeningly and thrusting his fingers inside her hard, the side of his palm grazing her clit. She thanked any Gods willing to listen he had such big hands. "I could eat you out for days and never be satisfied."

"Don't tease," she said around his mouth, digging her nails into his shoulder blades.

"I don't tease, love," he said, free hand moving to wrap around her throat a bit. "You're completely _mine_ now, Percy. I plan on driving you mad with pleasure."

"You're territorial and _mean_," she taunted, knowing she could have a sense of humor with him in this, knowing that she could have anything with him in this. As if to confirm, he smiled humorously at her and kissed her again, digging the hand at her throat into her skin, not a lot, but enough she had to gasp to keep breathing, found the heat in her stomach building more intensely than before, like she was on the edge of somethin' and she just-

He pulled away from her completely before she even knew what was happening, made her cry out in blatant confusion and need. "Hey, what-" she nearly sobbed, didn't have a chance to continue berating him before his mouth was back between her legs, licking eagerly over everywhere his fingers had just been. She squeaked, literally _squeaked _and couldn't control her hips as they thrust up of their own accord. "Mean," she said again, scrunching her eyes shut tight.

He laughed, the sound making nerve endings go haywire as he nuzzled against her sex, lapping at her clit again and again and again. But it wasn't the same as before- the fire was still there, rising, but she felt so empty without his fingers in her anymore, and she sighed helplessly from it.

"Just tell me that you're mine, Persephone," Had said, looking up at her with dark, dangerous eyes, the full sound of her name on his lips making her insides quake. "I'll give you what you need if you tell me."

And any other time her pride wouldn't have allowed her to answer him the way she did, but she was absolutely desperate to cum, and so she said, "I'm yours," if only a little grudgingly.

"Thank you," Had said sincerely, slipped two fingers inside of her sex again and began sucking on her clit once more. Her body was just needy enough for it to send her over the edge a minute later, crying out softly and clenching around his fingers as she murmured his name. He kept the feeling going though, still mouthing at her clit with his fingers pumping softly inside her.

Finally, when she couldn't keep going anymore, sensations too much, too sensitive he released her and crawled back up her body with a trail of kisses, settling on her chin, the tip of her nose, her forehead, then down to her mouth. She was too out-of-breath to try kissing back, let him swipe his tongue over hers lazily as he hummed some kind of tune into her mouth.

"Wow," she said when he pulled away from her, thought of everything that had just happened and blushed, covered her face with her hands. "Oh, God."

Had laughed bemusedly. "You're still embarrassed."

She released one of her arms to smack him in the chest before moving it back into place. "This is all new to me, okay. I didn't even plan on letting you see me naked today, let alone..."

"Letting me fuck you with my hands and mouth," he finished for her against the uncovered part of her ear, biting at the curve of it, making her shiver.

"Uh-huh," she said, then shot up as she quickly realized something, Had looking at her with a raised eyebrow and sheer amusement. "You didn't even bite me!" she said, motioning at him frantically. "And we didn't even get your pants off."

"I don't need to bite you," he tried to assure, sitting up with her and brushing a wild strand of hair behind her ear.

"But- but wh_y_?" she asked, astounded he didn't need to anymore. That was what they'd started all of this for, wasn't it?

"This was about you, Percy," Had smiled, reaching out to wrap her up in his arms; she pressed her face against his chest. "As far as I'm concerned, you are mine. And I'm yours."

"Really?" she asked then, looking up at him with wide eyes.

"You have my heart, Percy Hagne. I am yours," he said with so much sincerity in his voice she may have cried had she not been so deliriously happy.

And then, 'cause she was so happy and it made her head foggy, she said, "But you didn't get off, either."

"I don't need to," he said, much the same as he'd said about biting her. "This was about you, remember? There'll be times for both of us, when you're ready."

"But what about times for you?" she asked imploringly, a lit'le miffed.

"I've now realized I really just like it when you are satisfied," he said, pulling back from her slightly to hold her gaze. "Seeing you content is enough for me."

"Not for me," she said blatantly- he raised a brow again at that. "I want...I want you to feel as good as I felt."

"My selfless little virgin," he laughed, and she bristled at the comment, a thought suddenly coming to mind.

"Not technically now, I guess," she said, and at his blatant gape explained, "We just had oral _sex_, Had. That's sex. Virginity poofed."

He seemed confused by that. "But we haven't- that is, I haven't- in you..." he trailed off, looking at her for the answer to a statement he didn't understand.

"Penetrative sex isn't the end-all, be-all for virginity," Percy laughed. "Then lesbians would be virgins forever, which is dumb."

"Well, shit," Had said after a moment in regards to her comment. "I guess I lost my virginity a lot sooner than I thought, then." He looked over and smirked at her, waggled his eyebrows, to which she gave a sound of mock insult and slapped his chest; he responded by grabbing her hand and pulling her to him, dropping them down on the bed and stifling her giggle fit with kisses.

The chasteness of them soon turned into something deeper though, like the kisses they'd had before he'd made her, well, _climax_. She blushed at the thought, wrapped her arms around his neck and gasped as he rolled her atop him. Her legs straddled on either side of his thighs, knees digging into the mattress. She could feel him still hard through the material of his jeans, still had the urge to make him feel as good as he'd made her feel.

She ground down against the hardness then, smiling when Had groaned into her mouth. She did it again and again, his hands grabbing at her hips to still her after the third time.

"You're playing with fire, love," he said. She smiled, and lighting fast (well, at least lightning fast for a human) Percy snaked her hand down and unbuttoned his pants, brushing her fingers over the skin of his hardness now bare in the open space.

"Feels more like ice to me," she smirked.

He growled, rolled them over again and she squealed as he kissed her face, her jaw, her throat. She kept her hand wrapped around him, stroked experimentally and felt empowered by the way he shuddered from it.

"Grip harder," he told her, and she did, pulling softly but with a bit of strength behind it. He stopped her after a few strokes though, and her face fell as she figured she'd done something wrong when he pulled her hand away, back against her side.

"Did I-" she started, but he quelled her with a kiss and shook his head.

"It's just..." Had looked down, and Percy was sure that if he'd been alive, he'd be blushing. "It's a bit harder to do when it's...dry."

"Oh!" she said, put her hand up to her mouth and licked the flat of her tongue against it a few times. He watched in rapture as she twisted her lips around her fingers, sucked on them and slicked them with spit. "Will that help?"

"Y-yeah," he said, muttered a small, "Fuck," under his breath as she used her feet to kick his pants down the rest of the way, wrap her hand back around him. She paused after a moment though and he groaned. "You're killing me, Percy."

"You're already dead," she said without thought and he laughed, her attentions focused elsewhere. She'd never seen a man up close before, not out of health class. She'd always thought she'd be indifferent to the sight of it, but somehow looking at Had's erection just made the heat in her stomach flare back to life even more. The skin of it was soft under hand, even though he was rock hard when she gripped him tighter. And _stars_, he wasn't overly large, but he was substantial in size and she wondered...

"How are you ever going to fit?" she asked aloud, and for his part, Had simply chuckled.

"It'll fit," he said then, mouth hot at her ear and she shivered. "God, it's going to feel so good to be inside you." She pumped her hand at his words. He mumbled another curse. "You're so tight and warm everywhere, Percy," he said, breath speeding up as she increased the motion of her hand around him, letting her fingers slip over the head of his cock, which really made him shudder; she'd keep that in mind. "I bet I'd fill you up just perfect, and Gods the way you sound when you cum; I wanna make you make those sounds over and over- _fuck_." She'd moved her other hand at this point too, curious to try a trick all the girls at school had told her by cupping at the base of his sex and rolling the skin gently between her fingers. "Gods, don't stop doing that, _please_."

"Never thought I'd have _you_ begging," she said, leaning up to kiss his surprised mouth. "I like it."

"You're gonna be the second death of me," he said, growled low in his throat when she twisted her hand around his cock just so, letting her fingers tighten over the head of it. "Fuck, _Persephone_."

His fangs were out again, bright white points in the lights from overhead. And she realized almost too quickly how much he needed to bite her so he could finish, how much she wanted him to bite her so he could finish. With that in mind she turned and bared her neck, catching his attention as she slowed down the motions of her hands.

"You can," she said, knowing what it would mean and happy to have it happen; it was why she had come here in the first place.

"Percy..." he said.

"I want you to," she said, took the hand she had at the base of his cock to move her hair out of the way, let her neck stretch even more. "It's okay."

And that was all it took for him, 'cause she knew by now he'd always ask her permission first, was helpless to stop himself when she said _yes_.

His fangs sank into her neck sharply, and for a moment it hurt, but then it felt _good_. She moaned in time with him, his hips thrusting urgently into her hand. She couldn't keep up really, gasped as he slipped from her grip.

Had pulled away then, the pain returning to her neck but with a dull thrum of pleasure. There was blood on his mouth, dripping down his chin. "I- can I...? Can we...?" he tried, settling his hips flush against her and nudging his cock over her clit, the friction unbearable when attuned with the need thrumming through her from his bite.

"Yes," she all but sobbed, catching his relieved smile as he thrust against her again, mouth quickly finding her neck once more. She whined when his fangs penetrated the same spot, his cock rubbing against her sex in a way that he wouldn't slip inside her, but the feel of it was almost as pleasant as if he would have been.

They rutted together helplessly for a few more minutes then, his tongue lapping at her neck and her nails digging crescents into his back. She could smell the _life_ from her blood, the _death_ from his. It made her insatiable, wrapping her legs around his hips so he pressed against her that much more fully. Had groaned again, movements speeding up, but not too fast, just right.

It didn't take long for the heat in her stomach to peak again, his mouth still sucking at her neck as she came. He came nearly right after, with just one more thrust against her; she felt something warm spilling against her stomach as they rode it out together, little twitches of their once frantic hips.

When it was done Had rolled off of her breathing harshly; she turned and found his gaze, held it a moment before the both of them suddenly dissolved into fits of comfortable, satiated laughed. She stopped eventually though, felt something wet dripping against her ear. She put her hand to her neck, coming away with fresh blood and cringing a little.

"Gods, my sincerest apologies, Percy," Had said quickly, and before she could say it was fine, really it was, he was biting into his tongue, licking at her neck until the wounds closed. She was still so sensitive that it made her body twitch, the hum between her thighs more intense.

"Wow," she breathed when he was done, shifted her legs and sighed as she realized the sensitivity was worse than she thought. "That was..."

"Amazing," Had said, perching up on his side to look at her. "I am so honored you'd allow me to do that with you, Percy. And that you- thank you, for letting me..." he trailed off, motioning to her neck, and she laughed.

"I'm yours, remember," she teased, stretching over to kiss him.

"Yes, well, I do get quite possessive in bed," he said, matter of fact.

"And you do love to talk dirty," she laughed.

"So do you," he countered, smirking at her.

She blushed, glancing down at her body and sighing as she realized how sticky and gross she probably was after everything. "I should shower," she said, moving to get up and wincing at the sudden stiffness in her joints, the overworked ache between her legs. One would think two orgasms wouldn't cause such complication, but then again, they'd been some really great orgasms...

"I'll draw you a bath," Had said, sitting up with much less trouble than she had.

"You don't want me to go?" she asked, 'cause in truth, she'd been afraid he had now that they were done with the sex and stuff.

"Of course not," he said, almost offended she'd thought he would. "Can't you tell I'm a cuddler?" He pulled a goofy face and her tension distilled, laughter slipping from her lips a moment later. "Come," he said, holding out a hand to her. "Let's get you cleaned up."

* * *

Two hours later and the sun was getting ready to rise.

Had and her had bathed together after, well, _everything_, and it had been nice and very warm. He'd talked to her about her childhood during the experience, about how she had always been different from the other kids and the only other person on the playground that would pay attention to her was Arty, and sometimes Pollo if no one was looking. She'd been lonely all her life, but Had was quickly changing that.

"I'm sorry you were alone as a child," Had'd said, cuddling her close to his chest.

"It's okay," she'd murmured, tipping her head up to kiss him softly. "I have you now."

Afterwards they'd dressed very slowly, stealing kisses and alluding touches before eventually Had said it was time for him to go to sleep before the sun caught him.

"You're welcome to stay here for the day," he told her, leading her down the stairs towards where he said his resting place was, wanting to show her as a sign of the mutual trust they had in each other. Vampires rarely showed their resting places to anyone, but he knew she'd never tell, and that made Percy feel special.

"I'd like to," Percy said, and she meant it. "But I have to get home before my mom wakes up, otherwise she'll freak."

"Of course," Had said, and it was then he pried open a door hidden under the steps.

Percy jumped back from the sight, blinking rapidly. "Whoa."

Had chuckled. "The Chthonic family had this installed during the Civil War. There's a crawl space under that trap door."

He pointed to the vague outline of a door in the floor, stooped within the next second and pried it open. Inside was complete blackness; Percy stared for a second before pulling her cell phone out of her purse and shining the light inside. The space had clearly been nothing but a dirt hole once, but Had'd improved it some by pushing a mattress down against the floor and heaping blankets and pillows on top of it. There were some books sitting in a cubby in the wall, too; a box of tissues, a candle, a small battery-powered alarm clock.

"Why don't you use one of your coffins?" Percy found herself asking, since he did build them for his kind after all.

"It feels pretentious to use my own product," Had laughed, and Percy glanced up to find him smiling at her. But soon the smile faded, and he was left sighing as he reached out and hugged her body to his. "I wish I was a regular man that could share your bed."

"It's okay," Percy murmured. "Maybe someday, we'll figure somethin' out..."

Had'd called her a cab since her car was still at home from the night before, and it pulled up in the driveway not a minute later. They said goodbye then, and he showed her to the door with a long, lingering kiss. "Come see me tomorrow night?" he asked her.

"Yeah," she said, letting go of his hand and instantly missing the feel of it around her own. "Of course."

She walked out to the cab with a wave, climbed in and shut the door smiling.

"Looks like you had a nice night," the driver laughed.

Percy just kept smiling as they pulled away from the house, meeting the rising sun.

* * *

She made it back home a little after six in the morning, tip-toed inside towards the kitchen for something to drink. It was still dark in the back of the house, but she'd lived here long enough to know where to walk as not to trip over or bump into anything.

At least she thought she had, until she slipped in something sticky and wet.

"Shit!" Percy cursed, stumbling back and flipping on the switch.

It was then she realized that what she'd slipped in was blood. It was ev'rywhere- in a puddle on the floor, spattered on the cabinets, the walls. Red and thick and drying. The room reeked of _death_ and she wondered how had she not seen this coming, how had she lost count? 'Cause when she saw the source of the blood, lying there in a broken heap, she knew it was all her fault. She was so caught up in her own affairs, so love-stricken and selfish to keep an eye on the person that mattered most in her life, had always been there for her. Summer love had just turned to a winter funeral devastatingly fast.

And that's when she started to scream.


End file.
